Yehi 'or—let there be light this holiday season though love, compassion, and willingness to help others through their own darkness.

Help us spread light to our community, just as the candles of our menorahs flood our hearts and homes with warmth! This Chanukah, we invite you to participate in Eight Days and Nights of Mitzvah Moments, a series of community-strengthening opportunities. Feel free to select from the options in our Mitzvah Moments section to get started, or create your own.**

MITZVAH MOMENTS

**Please note, that, through the month of December, you can bring a new, unwrapped toy to donate to our Holiday Toy Drive, benefiting Canal Alliance. All toys can be dropped in the bin at the Justice Center (in our Lobby).

What: Chanukah, one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays, is a festive eight-day celebration that for many people falls during the darkest, coldest season of the year. Also called the Festival of Lights, the holiday is often celebrated with singing and playing special songs and games (dreidel), and eating foods prepared in oil including latkes, sufganiyot, bimuelos (fried dough puffs) and keftes de prasas (leek patties). Candles are lit for each of the nights of the holiday on a branched menorah (also called a hanukkiyah). 

Why: At what is the coldest, darkest time of the year for many people, we celebrate by bringing light and warmth into our homes, into our communities and into the world around us. In the Talmud, the rabbis taught that the mitzvah of Chanukah, is a “candle for each man and his household” (the modern Reform understanding is that this text refers to everyone, not just men). So the actual mitzvah, or commandment, of the holiday is to kindle the Chanukah lights at home!

Who: Chanukah, meaning "dedication" in Hebrew, commemorates the victory of a small group of Jewish rebels (led by Judah Maccabee and his brothers, collectively known as “the Maccabees”) over the armies of Syria in 165 B.C.E. and the subsequent liberation and "rededication" of the Temple in Jerusalem.