Creating Miracles as a Community: A Message from Rabbi Immerman

A favorite bedtime story in our home tells the story of “Little Red Ruthie,” who encounters a wolf on the way to her grandmother’s house where she is making latkes. The wolf, who wants to eat her, decides instead, to wait until after Ruthie eats the latkes, so she will be a better meal. 

Throughout the story, little Red Ruthie summons the courage of the Maccabees in order to confront the wolf. While the candles, latkes, presents and jelly doughnuts are often the focus of our holiday, today we might also want to channel the courage of the Maccabees.

This winter will hopefully be significantly better than last, with most of us vaccinated and the rates of COVID (at least as I am writing this) beginning to fall again. There is so much hope on the horizon. After a tremendous High Holy Days, we are again repopulating our calendar with CMI traditions, old and new – the Torch Run, Mitzvah Mall, and lighting our giant outdoor Chanukiah generously created by our Brotherhood of Men and Women. We have been safely worshiping indoors for months and hope that we can have even more people for our annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. service. Finally, after 18 months, the sounds of children laughing and learning have filled the halls of CMI once again!

With all of the excitement, we know that there are still many obstacles that we face as individuals and as a society. Unemployment is still very high, COVID has exacerbated income inequality, our planet is warming at a rapid pace, and more. We also may be facing additional challenges such as the loss of friends or family, the struggles from our months of isolation, or simply the darkness that looms over us as our daylight grows shorter each day. By choosing to confront the Greeks, the Maccabees taught us that we can all be a source of light and that we can collectively summon courage. Most importantly, they taught us that when we work together to overcome challenges we are never alone.

While we will always pray for miracles, such as oil lasting longer than it should, the lesson from Chanukah is that we don’t need to wait for a miracle to occur, we can create miracles for ourselves and others. If we work hard, our collective light will last forever. May we all find courage, comfort, health and hope on our journey together.