After eight days and eating who knows how many sufganiyot (jelly-filled donuts) this Hanukkah, the brightest holiday on the Hebrew calendar came to an end on Sunday night. The candles have all burned out, the menorahs stored away, and now we look with hope to the next holiday in line – Tu B'Shevat – which is of course followed by Purim.
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This Hanukkah, it was hard not to notice the work of some 5,100 Chabad activists in 106 countries across the globe. They placed large menorahs at iconic sites and photographs of their festive candle lighting ceremonies appeared on all the news wires. They were also busy passing out sufganiyot and delivering menorahs to anyone without.
In total, despite the coronavirus pandemic, Chabad emissaries took part in over 16,000 Hanukkah candle-lighting events, reaching some 8 million Jews across the world, according to Chabad.
"More than 40 years ago, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson) noted the usefulness of Hanukkah to… foster pride and Jewish identity no matter the place," said Rabbi Yosef Aharonov, the head of Chabad's emissary enterprise in Israel.
"At first it wasn't completely a given. Some were even concerned about antisemitic reactions it would cause, and preferred more modest Hanukkah celebrations. But the Rebbe was unperturbed, and encouraged his emissaries and students to do all they could to light up the world and maximize visibility.
"It's a little hard to imagine, but less than 50 years ago, menorahs only appeared inside people's homes. The emissaries invest a tremendous amount of effort to raise the immense financial resources required, and today, virtually every traffic junction in Israel light up the night, sports venues across the globe hold candle lighting ceremonies, and there is no popular tourist destination where a festive candle-lighting ceremony isn't held, together with the local leadership, Jewish or otherwise. The light won," said Aharonov.
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