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‘All about light overcoming darkness’: How US Jews are celebrating Hanukkah with Israel at war

(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 Hanukkah 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 Hanukkah — 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 Hanukkah offers a handy way to thread the needle.
“It’s a difficult time, but Hanukkah is all about light overcoming darkness,” said Rabbi Aryeh Kaltmann, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Columbus, Ohio.
Hanukkah 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 Hanukkah candle lighting at an NFL “Sunday Night Football” game.
Kaltmann has put together an expansive program called “Eight Nights of Fun” that includes 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.
“Although it’s hard to celebrate Hanukkah when we know that there are brothers and sisters who are in prison for no crime of their own, just because they happen to be Jewish… we can ignite hope and love and a sense of camaraderie,” he added, referring to the 138 people still held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. “When we do a good deed, that joy and that celebration can make a difference for our brothers and sisters in Israel.”
While Kaltmann’s plans are a turbocharged version of what he does every year, the war has given rise to a new set of just-for-wartime Hanukkah plans as well. A fundraising campaign called “Light of Strength” aims to raise $3.5 million to send Hanukkah gift cards to 75,000 Israeli children who have been displaced from their homes.
“When we think of Hanukkah, we think of the lights of Hanukkah, 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 Hanukkah 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.”
Young Jews celebrate Shabbat during the 2022 Infinite Light Hanukkah festival in Los Angeles. (Courtesy of NuRoots)
In New York, UJA-Federation is hosting a handful of Hanukkah events that also draw a direct connection to the war. Its Dec. 7 “Evening of Music and Light” is a benefit concert for Israel, while the event page for its Dec. 12 candle lighting reads: “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 have 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 are using the holiday to call attention to their cause. A group called Rabbis for Ceasefire is holding a Hanukkah candle-lighting in New York City on the first night of the holiday, for example.
But even as war and loss have reshaped some Hanukkah events, many others are proceeding largely along the same lines as they have 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 is hosting “Unite with Light: A Jewish Solidarity Chanukah Concert” with American-Israeli singer Nissim Black. The Bronx Jewish Center is also holding a Hanukkah concert with the Jewish a capella group The Maccabeats. The Chicago Loop Synagogue will 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 has 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.
“Hanukkah 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.”
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The post ‘All about light overcoming darkness’: How US Jews are celebrating Hanukkah with Israel at war appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.
Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.
Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.
The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.
The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.
Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.
Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.
Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.
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Trump Urges NATO Countries to Halt Russian Oil Purchases

US President Donald Trump gestures during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Aug. 26, 2025. Photo: Jonathan Ernst via Reuters Connect
i24 News – US President Donald Trump issued a letter to NATO nations on Saturday, impressing upon them to stop purchasing Russian oil and impose major sanctions on the regime of Vladimir Putin to end its war in Ukraine.
“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA. As you know, NATO’S commitment to WIN has been far less than 100%, and the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia,” the message read.
“Anyway, I am ready to ‘go’ when you are. Just say when? I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50% to 100% TARIFFS ON CHINA, to be fully withdrawn after the WAR with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR. China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip.”
Trump’s post comes after the recent flight of multiple Russian drones into Poland, widely perceived an escalatory move by Russia as it was entering the airspace of a NATO ally. Poland intercepted the drones, yet Trump played down the severity of the incident and Russia’s motives by saying it “could have been a mistake.”
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Netanyahu Says Getting Rid of Hamas Chiefs in Qatar Would Remove Main Obstacle to Gaza Deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the US Independence Day reception, known as the annual “Fourth of July” celebration, hosted by Newsmax, in Jerusalem, Aug. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that getting rid of Hamas chiefs living in Qatar would remove the main obstacle to releasing all hostages and ending the war in Gaza.
Israel on Tuesday targeted the Hamas leadership in Doha.