Robert Garber’s Chanukah Message for 2025

The story of Hanukkah is the story of a tragedy and two miracles. We know the story well, but recently I’ve begun to think about it slightly differently – as the story of failure, return, and recovery.

After the temple is captured by the forces of Antiochus, it is desecrated and dedicated to pagan gods. A complete tactical and spiritual failure, I can only imagine the pain and fear this tragedy provoked. It was four centuries since the fall of the first temple, and, though they did not know it, only a century or two before the destruction of the second. In this moment, I’d presume the average Jew of the time expected such destruction was already at hand.

The return was precipitated by the zealotry of Judah Maccabee, who, by a generous reading, was a complicated figure. His defeat of the larger Greek army is often forgotten as the first miracle of Hanukkah, and I think for good reason: It was a tactical victory that provided some sense of short-term safety, but could not erase the tragedy the people had just suffered, nor heal their pain, nor provide any great comfort in a still-unstable region.

Which is why the miracle of the oil is by far the more remembered one. In the midst of the shattered temple and its people, it was clear, more than ever, that a light was needed. They did not, could not, wait to have enough oil to last. They had to light the lamps now, and hope G-d would provide. Modern scholars suggest that the true reason for the holiday was as a delayed Sukkot, which the Jews had been unable to celebrate with the Temple in enemy hands, and I hold this no less miraculous. Because either way, the community gathered at the tail end of tragedy, and, in an act of faith, began the long processes of consolidating and of resolving their collective trauma into a manageable part of their history – a process we continue to this day.

Chag Hannukah Samaech and may it be a healing holiday for all.

Robert Garber is the Online Content Coordinator for Atlanta Jewish Times.