A Candle for Every Thread

A Hanukkah Story By Aliko Weste

Yesterday, 10 + Jews were gunned down in Australia. Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah.

This year, the first night of Hanukkah also falls on my grandmother’s yahrzeit, the anniversary of her death. My grandmother, who survived the Holocaust..

There are so many threads of grief and resilience in what I just named. I’m going to do my best to lay them all out, and string them together in a way that unites the gravity of this moment in time.

We call Hanukkah the Festival of Lights. It is a celebration of miracles and of resilience - remembering how, in 164 BCE, the Greeks attempted to destroy our people, our prayers, and our practices. It is about finding light in the darkest of times (winter), about celebrating the miracle that the oil meant for one night lasted eight. It is a story of survival.

My grandmother survived the holocaust in 1941 when this time Nazi Germany directed their pain at the jews. She hid in an attic outside of Paris while her brother was gassed in a chamber (my great uncle). She survived, and I exist because of her.

She died one year ago today, at the age of 94. Her yahrzeit falls on the first night of Hanukkah this year. Her life, like Hannukah is a testament to resilience, to the light we carry, to being persecuted and surviving.

Tonight, I don’t just light a menorah I also light a yahrzeit candle, a jewish tradition of burning a candle all night long for the anniversary of the passing of a loved one.

She survived persecution. The anniversary of her death falls on the first night of a holiday celebrating survival from persecution. And today, again, Jews are being attacked.

Yesterday in Bondi Beach, Australia, Jews were gunned down at a Hanukkah celebration… The irony of being attacked at a celebration of survival…

I don’t know why, but this feels monumental. Threads from ancient times, my immediate family lineage, and current events all woven together.

Woven in a story of persecution, woven in a story of death, woven in a story of resilience, woven in a story of survival, woven in light, in candles, in grief, and in celebration.

I feel them all here in this moment. The destruction of the second temple in 164BC, the holocaust in 1940, my grandmother in the attic, October 7th, my anguish around the decimation of Palestine, the decimation of Palestine, this Bondi Beach shooting, and my very jewish life I lead…

So what now? What with all this decimation, death, grief, life, candles, celebration?

Well, in Hebrew we say: ‘Mi shebeirach avoteinu’

'Bless those in need of healing

with r’fuah sh’leimah (complete healing)

the renewal of body,

the renewal of spirit.

May the source of strength,

Who blessed the ones before us,

Help us find the courage, to make our lives a blessing,

and let us say, Amen.'

• So, Tonight, I light the menorah to remember the light we carry in our hearts, in our ‘neshamah’, our divine spark.

• Tonight, I light the menorah to remember that, despite repeated attempts to erase us, we are still here. We are resilient.

• Tonight, I light the menorah for my ancestors who survived so much so that I could exist.

• Tonight, I light a yahrzeit candle for my grandmother’s memory.

• Tonight I light the menorah to honor the lives lost in yesterdays shooting.

• Tonight, I light the menorah for my people in Israel, to remember that our culture lives in our hearts, not in domination or destruction of others. Even when people want us dead, the answer is not to destroy others, but to shine our light brighter - for the repair of the world, for ‘tikkun olam’.

Tend deeply to your people.

Tend deeply to your Jewish friends and family.

People are not their governments.

If you want to leave a shitty comment, please don’t. 

This is not the time.

I am very aware that the deeply seeded fear, need to preserve our culture and trauma of our survival does not excuse the atrocities perpetuated by the Israeli Government and its soldiers in the middle east. I do not support this genocide.