Every Chanukah throughout my childhood, we put the menorah in the window and lit its candles. I never even thought about it. Growing up, I always felt safe. Civilized countries weren’t anti-Semitic any longer and the Holocaust was over. “Never again.”
But anyone can see the anti-Semitic resurgence in Europe, with Jews getting beat up, the EU boycotting Israel, and European media ignoring anti-Semitism while condemning Israel. Stereotypical caricatures of Jews appear in European newspapers and social media.
Interviewing Elizabeth Bard, an American living in Provence, about her recent memoir opened my eyes to the situation in France. In A Picnic in Provence she writes: “In Céreste, no one even knows I’m Jewish. It’s not that I’ve kept it from people on purpose, exactly. But I haven’t been screaming it from the rooftops either. This may sound weird, even cowardly, but Judaism in Europe is not something casual, like Seinfeld and whitefish salad in New York. It lives in the shadow of the Holocaust, and there are residual fears and cautions….”
Three-quarters of French Jews fear to openly identify, according to a 2013 EU survey. Since 2006, 40,000 French Jews have immigrated to Israel.
The situation in France is a cautionary tale previewing what may occur here if these trends continue.
At U.S. universities, pro-Israel and Jewish speakers are protested, sometimes violently. Jewish students have been denied placement in student government. BDS, SJP, and others are welcome to spread their hate. The UN is obsessively anti-Jewish and anti-Israel.
The heightened anti-Semitism sometimes comes from the extreme right but more often from the left, which pretends its hatred of Jews is merely criticism of Israel.
Our rabbis, wise in the ways of the rise and fall of anti-Semitic hatred and persecution, gave us choices. In times of safety, the chanukiah is lit publicly in a window or outside; in times of danger, we bring the menorah inside to a table. The saving of life is always paramount.
One wonders if other religions ever had to take into consideration frequent swells of persecution and literal danger to life and limb and encode it into religious law. In too many times and places, being Jewish has been and still is an act of courage.
During Chanukah we celebrate more than the miracle of the oil. We remember the fight of the Maccabees for Jewish independence and freedom of worship against the Greeks and Syrians. The Maccabees could not have realized then this fight would continue in modern Israel or that placing a menorah in the window might represent a danger.
We pray that those who this year will kindle their lights behind closed windows out of fear will soon be able to open the shutters to let the light out.
I will have my menorah in the window. I hope you do too.