Ray Alyssa Rothman’s Chanukah Message for 2024
For our Chanukah holiday issue, we invited members of our community to share their responses.
I grew up in a community of 10,000 Jews in Virginia Beach, or really Tidewater, Virginia, which encompasses five cities. Hanukkah menorahs were few and far between.
My neighborhood included a small enclave of Jewish families. Growing up, we were always in each other’s houses. Our friends’ parents were like surrogate aunts and uncles.
I have vivid memories of my mother and father luring us to the dining room with the promise of gifts and Hanukkah gelt. My twin brothers and I would watch expectantly as my mother or father would light the shamash candle on the menorah and use that candle to light the other candles in progression over the ensuing eight nights.
Among our Hanukkah additional rituals was going to Mount Trashmore, the man-made mountain of trash that was transformed into a public park, becoming the first landfill park in the US in 1974, to light a big menorah that our Chabad of Tidewater rabbi sponsored. When I was 10 years old, Chabad of Tidewater inaugurated this tradition. The initiation of this candle lighting was a catalyst that helped galvanize the Tidewater Jewish community and strengthen our Jewish identity.
Today in Dunwoody where I live is a much larger Jewish community. We follow a similar tradition with menorah lightings by Chabad of Dunwoody and Mitzvah House. When we light our Hanukkah candles at home, my mind drifts back to the neighborhood celebrations of my youth and our gatherings at Mount Trashmore.
The menorah is a resonant symbol because its candles cast a shining light in the darkness, representing hope, guidance, and clarity, signifying enlightenment in challenging situations. Light is associated with knowledge, understanding and truth.
Today, for me, celebrating Hanukkah in the Atlanta Jewish community is a vibrant experience filled with traditions that foster unity and joy while honoring the miracle of the Maccabee’s oil and Jewish heritage. As was the case in my childhood, Hanukkah today in Atlanta is a time of reflection and togetherness, celebrating the tenacity of the Jewish people and the spirit and promise of renewal.
Ray Alyssa Rothman is a commercial real estate broker who also helps high-net-worth individuals identify debt and equity investment opportunities. Her side business is Kibbitz & Konnect, the premier in-person social network for Atlanta’s Jewish singles community (www.kibbitzkonnect.org).
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