GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — One holiday is ending, and another is beginning. Amid the glow of Christmas lights everywhere, are the Jewish people lighting their Menorahs.
This is only the fourth time since 1900 that Hanukkah begins on Christmas Day. So, Rabbi at Temple Emanuel, Javier Cattapan, shares why Hanukkah means so much to the members of the Jewish community in West Michigan.
“I think this has become a way for the Jewish community to have some kind of a celebration at the same time,” Rabbi Cattapan said.
The celebration, according to Rabbi Cattapan, is about bringing light into the world by living a Jewish lifestyle, “…which means that you would live a life of service to your community by improving the world and trying to leave it better than you found it.”
This is easier said than done, as violence takes no holiday. “The attacks on October 7, 2023 happened on a Jewish holiday, which is one of the most joyful Jewish holidays," Rabbi Cattapan said. "It's called Simchat Torah, which means the rejoicing of the Torah.”
So, Rabbi Cattapan's congregation at Temple Emanuel ends every weekly service with a prayer for the Middle East. “Every time we have a Jewish holiday or a Jewish gathering, we remember that there's still a war going on, and that we need to continue to pray for peace,” Rabbi Cattapan said.
Among their prayers are those to freely practice their Jewish religion. “This is one of the messages of Hanukkah: to be able to live as Jews freely; that's something we want for everybody,” Rabbi Cattapan said.
According to the lunar cycles which guide the Jewish calendar, Hanukkah and Christmas will only again coincide twice over the next 30 years — in 2035 and 2054.
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