Hanukkah, People!
I’m lighting the candles I have. Alone. Working that muscle.
I always do it. I light a few. I forget a few. I always have some left over. I buy a new box of Hanukkah candles every three years or so. I’m inconsistent with a yearly ritual.
I’m not doing it because it’s important right now for me to connect with my Judaism. I’m not doing it because this is an awful time in the world in terms of rampant antisemitism becoming normalized. I’m doing it because it makes me remember where I came from as a person.
A yearly reminder of part of who I am. No matter how much I talk about being a Jew or what is happening in the world, lighting as many of those candles I remember to light takes me back to my childhood. It wasn’t even a big deal then. I do it exactly the way I was brought up doing it, as almost an afterthought. Something we fit in at a certain time of year because we are supposed to do it.
I am supposed to do it. I don’t go too deep with it. I don’t ever go to temple. I don’t fast on Yom Kippur. I have never felt more Jewish in my life than now, primarily because I’m scared.
The fact that people are conflating Israel and how they feel about what is happening there, which is beyond awful and evil, with all Jews is scary and shallow. The fact that antisemitism is happening on multiple fronts at all times around the world because of this reaction is horrible and threatening. On top of a base antisemitism that is always brewing. The fact that a business in Los Angeles didn’t put a menorah decoration up in their window because of fear of vandalism and violence is terrifying. Hiding who we are out of convenience and avoiding conflict is no way to live in America or anywhere.
It’s happening.
I know how I feel. I know where I stand.
I would like the killing to stop. I would like a reasonable solution to something that has gotten horrendously out of control in a part of the world that I have almost no understanding of.
I light the candles to remind me that I am a Jew, no matter what, come what may.
Happy Hanukkah.
Today I have a very engaged and interesting conversation with the actor Peter Sarsgaard. On Thursday I talk to Rodney Crowell about a life in country music and also catch up with John Doe about X and a movie he is in. Great talks all around.
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron
