The Hanukkah story celebrates two things: the miracle of the Temple oil lasting eight days instead of just one; and freedom, namely the victory of the Maccabees over the occupying Syrian Greeks.
Hanukkah is also called the Festival of Lights because of the candles we light, adding one each night until, on the eighth night, a hanukkiah blazing with light chases away the darkness, both physical and spiritual.
The tradition instructs us to display the lit hanukkiah where passersby can see it, in order to publicize the miracle and the liberation. In many places in the diaspora, Jews have hesitated to fulfill that mitzvah, for fear of anti-Semitic reaction. That’s why in America — the land of the free — so many Jews proudly place their Hanukkah menorahs in the front window of their homes. It’s also why, four decades ago, Chabad began putting up giant Hanukkah menorahs in public places, first in this country and then around the world, as described in our story on page 32.
The Hanukkah candles that will be lit beginning the night of Dec. 16 rightly celebrate the freedoms we have in America. The ones we think of most often — those enshrined in our Constitution — are freedoms to. We are free to say what we want, to worship as we please, to defend our homes and family. The Declaration of Independence boldly laid out the founders’ vision of a state that above all valued life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Freedoms to.
But there is another kind of freedom, just as important to the sustenance of life and the betterment of society, and that is freedom from. Freedom from hunger. Freedom from violence. And the two included among Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms: freedom from want and from fear.
The freedom of a young black man in America to walk down the street without becoming a target.
The freedom of a Jew in Europe to walk down the street without becoming a target.
Freedom for girls in Africa from forced child marriage and sexual slavery. Freedom from Ebola. Freedom from Boko Haram, ISIS and other extremist terror groups.
Freedom from being beaten or harassed in your sleep on a San Francisco street just because you are homeless.
The first kind of freedom — freedom to — allows for invention, creativity, entrepreneurship and reaching for the stars. The second kind of freedom protects the vulnerable and builds a world that allows us to reach our best selves.
This year, let the Hanukkah candles celebrate both kinds of freedom.