A Chanukah Message from Lilli Jennison

I know it is Chanukah, but I would like to start my submission with a lyric from the song “Through Heaven’s Eyes,” which is in my favorite Passover movie, “The Prince of Egypt”:

A single thread in a tapestry
Though its color brightly shines
Can never see its purpose
In the pattern of the grand design

I think it is important to shine our individual lights so that our community light can shine bolder and brighter. A single person can shine, but a community together can shine brighter than the sun.

Eight small ways to shine your light to the community, one for each night of Chanukah:
1: Give a genuine compliment.
2: Give a smile.
3: Volunteer your time.
4: Donate items you no longer have use for to someone who can use them.
5: Be a listening ear to someone who needs to talk.
6: Share your talents with the community.
7: Pay for the person behind you at Starbucks…if you can afford to do so.
8: Send cards or presents to a children’s hospital or retirement home.

You might think a single compliment, sending a card, or simply listening to someone isn’t shining your light, but, in the big picture, you are shining your light bright within the community. A compliment gives someone who might have been having a hard day a reason to smile. A card sent to a retirement home could brighten a senior’s day. Even simply listening to someone can really help their mental health, sometimes people desperately just need to talk to a listening ear. You, doing these small things, along with your neighbor, friend, and coworker doing these things, shines a big, bold, bright light in our community.

Editor & Publisher magazine recently helped me shine my light by honoring me as one of their 2022 creative visionaries. I hope that my bright smile from this award shines as I design the paper for the community and help contribute to the Best Jewish Newspaper in America!

Happy Chanukah and don’t ever stop shining your lights.

Lilli Jennison is creative director at Atlanta Jewish Times.