Rabbi Ari Kaiman’s Chanukah Message for 2024
For our Chanukah holiday issue, we invited members of our community to share their responses.
Almost 25 years ago, the Atlanta Jewish Times profiled me as a rising teen leader. Who would have guessed that I would merit to be back in this great community regularly writing pieces like this!
I’ve long felt that Chanukah is the most ironic of Jewish holidays. We’re celebrating the anti-assimilationists with the most assimilated Jewish holiday in this great country. I believe that the Southern Jewish story is one of the most interesting of our history. The pressure to be like everyone else was stronger here. We were fewer in number, and spread out over far greater distances. Yet, the Southern Jewish community of more than 100 years never abandoned our identity.
I believe that our minority status in many ways strengthened our identity and resilience in ways that resonate to this day. We have to work harder to maintain our uniqueness, and papers like this one help weave the fabric of our community.
Today, our little corner of the Jewish world shines bright.
Mazel Tov to the Jewish Times on 100 years and counting of bringing us together and preserving our history.
Rabbi Ari Kaiman is the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel.
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