Tis The Season?

Friday, on the plane to visit friends, I worked on a pretty funny post about holiday lawn ornaments. The next day, we heard about the shooting at Brown. Then the massacre at Bondi beach, a true antisemitic killing spree. On the way home, when I read about the death of Rob Reiner at the hands of his terribly disturbed son, I gave up the idea of any post this week – until I saw T%?#p’s vile rant.

So, when I got home I took down my childhood menorah (that's the real thing in the photo), lit the candles, and Youtubed Chanukah songs. I’m including the link to my favorite - Debbie Friedman singing Mi Shebeirach, the prayer for healing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHKo3CjuzpY. An appropriate prayer for now. 

Another famous Chanukah song has the line ‘And his word broke their sword, when our own strength failed us’. It turns out that the line appears in both Christian and Jewish texts. I wonder what the words are. I'm waiting to hear words that encourage a shared humanity that doesn't have to diminish anyone. I'm waiting.

So Happy Chanukah if that's what you celebrate. And whether or not you are going to celebrate anything this month, I hope you can find a bit of peace and hope and resilience- you will need it.