Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

(JTA) - When tickets for Los Angeles' Infinite Light Festival went on sale in October, just a week after Hamas' brutal attack on Israel, sales were brisk. In fact, tickets sold out to the annual Chanukah celebration held by the local Jewish federation's young adult division, NuRoots, faster than in any other year.

"I truly believe that that's because people are just craving to be in community, to celebrate, to be given permission to have a sense of joy, and to show up and have fun," Chelsea Synder, vice president of NuRoots Community, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Joy has felt hard to come by in Jewish communities since Oct. 7, as grief, fear and anxiety have been the prevailing emotions in the wake of the attack, Israel's counteroffensive in Gaza and a global explosion of antisemitism. Yet the arrival of Chanukah - the first holiday since Simchat Torah, the date of the assault - has required Jews and their communities to figure out how to balance sadness and celebration.

For many, the symbolism of Chanukah offers a handy way to thread the needle.

"It's a difficult time, but Chanukah is all about light overcoming darkness," said Rabbi Aryeh Kaltmann, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Columbus, Ohio.

Chanukah is a major event for Chabad, which is known for its public displays of Jewish practice surrounding holidays. The movement's rabbis organized what it said were more than 15,000 public menorah lightings last year, including what its teen network said was the first-ever Chanukah candle lighting at an NFL "Sunday Night Football" game.

Kaltmann put together an expansive program called "Eight Nights of Fun" that included someone dressed as Judah Maccabee skydiving from an airplane to light a menorah, a cannon shooting edible dreidels, a menorah lighting at a Columbus Blue Jackets NHL game and more. The over-the-top agenda was by design.

"The more we could do to bring out celebration and unity between Jewish kids and the community, the better," Kaltmann said.

"When we think of Chanukah, we think of the lights of Chanukah, right? Bringing light into the darkness," said Tali Reiner Brodetzki, an Israeli who lives in Pennsylvania and is leading the campaign. "A lot of the Chanukah songs are about this: getting rid of the darkness, bringing light and joy. And this is what it's all about - bringing light and joy to these kids' lives."

In New York, UJA-Federation hosted a handful of Chanukah events that also drew a direct connection to the war. Its Dec. 7 "Evening of Music and Light" was a benefit concert for Israel. The event page for its Dec. 12 candle lighting read: "With our focus on the war in Israel and the rise in antisemitism, most of us are seeking the comfort of our community and a reprieve from the alarming headlines."

Those alarming headlines have included a spike in reported antisemitic incidents that had some Jews wary of showcasing their Jewish identity in public - a key requirement of the holiday. Adam Kulbersh, an actor and father in Los Angeles, launched the "Project Menorah" initiative to encourage non-Jews to display menorahs in their windows out of solidarity.

"We're in a time of awful antisemitism, historic levels," Kulbersh told JTA. "I think the idea of inviting our non-Jewish allies to add their light to ours in a time of darkness has really moved people."

Some Jews who oppose the war used the holiday to call attention to their cause. A group called Rabbis for Ceasefire held a Chanukah candle-lighting in New York City on the first night of the holiday, for example.

But even as war and loss have reshaped some Chanukah events, many others proceeded largely along the same lines as they had in the past - with raucous fun layered upon a history that has included struggle and overcoming great odds.

In Charlotte, North Carolina, the local Chabad hosted "Unite with Light: A Jewish Solidarity Chanukah Concert" with American-Israeli singer Nissim Black. The Bronx Jewish Center held a Chanukah concert with the Jewish a capella group The Maccabeats. The Chicago Loop Synagogue put on a performance of "Hershel & the Hanukkah Goblins," a story about a man who outsmarts a procession of goblins and saves the holiday for one shtetl.

And in Los Angeles, where NuRoots planned a full slate of events to engage young Jews during the holiday - including L.A.'s sizable Israeli population - Snyder said the focus is on bringing the community together during "our darkest moments," as the event page puts it.

"Chanukah is the symbol of hope," she said. "I think all of us can really lean into what hope means for us, regardless of how you affiliate yourself politically. I think the world is hard. And I think that hope and light and this idea of celebrating and coming back to joy, and donuts and latkes, it makes us connected on a level that's deeper than ourselves."