Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal’s Chanukah Message for 2025

Festival of Lights Illuminates Path to Harmony

Chanukah commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, but its deeper message resonates powerfully today. The holiday celebrates the triumph of the right to religious freedom and cultural identity — principles that form the foundation of harmony among different peoples.

Harmony and coexistence mean more than simply tolerating our neighbors who pray differently, speak different languages, or celebrate different traditions. Coexistence requires engagement: understanding that our communities grow stronger when we create space for everyone’s light to shine.

The menorah itself embodies this principle. Each night, we add another flame, yet no candle diminishes the others. Instead, the collective light grows brighter, illuminating more of the darkness. As such, everyone, each community adds their unique light to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

Today, Chanukah’s message feels especially urgent. The Maccabees fought for the freedom to practice their faith openly, a freedom that remains precious and, in many places, precarious. When we champion coexistence, we honor that struggle by ensuring such freedom extends to all people, regardless of their beliefs.

Coexistence means recognizing that our neighbor’s presence enriches rather than threatens. It means my children learning about Diwali alongside Chanukah, understanding that Ramadan’s spiritual discipline shares common ground with Yom Kippur’s reflection. This extends beyond our religious communities. Ethnic communities, people from different countries who come here for a better life, in fact, make our lives better.

The Chanukah miracle — oil lasting eight days instead of one — reminds us that small acts of faith and courage can have outsized impacts. Similarly, each gesture toward understanding, each conversation across difference, each moment of choosing curiosity over judgment contributes to a more harmonious world.

The commandment of Chanukah is to place the Chanukiah by the front door or in the window to publicize the Nes, the miracle. Today, the miracle isn’t that we show the light, but that anyone will notice it. The lesson of Chanukah is a reminder to see each other, to shine light on the humanity of the others, to illuminate the holiness in the stranger, and to bring those who are shrouded in darkness out into light.

As families gather to light candles this season, the glow in our windows sends a message beyond our homes: we celebrate the light of freedom, the warmth of community, and the enduring promise that diverse peoples can not only coexist but flourish together.

Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal, Rabbi at Ahavath Achim Synagogue, Chair of GIPL, Past President of the ARA.