We Are Not Alone: A Hanukkah Blessing

 I think of all the Jews lighting candles

All over the world.

And I am not alone.

Which brings me to

The plagues and the storms and the fires and the floods and the wars

When so so many people

Are lost in real darkness.

So for eight nights this year

As I light the candles on my hanukiah,

I will say the blessings

And pray for those who have been sickened or injured or killed or raped or exploited.

And pray for those who are worried and homeless and jobless and vulnerable and hungry.

And pray for those who are lost to themselves, 

Even the ones who are willfully ignorant and gleefully cruel (though I do wish they’d shut up). 

And thank God for all of us who are still here.

And thank God for our loved ones.

And thank God for the Maccabees,

Of all kinds,

Who, when times are hard,

Refuse to disappear,

Fighting so hard for their communities

With food and shelter and work and justice and science and love.

Not a miracle exactly,

It's what good people do and give, 

When giving and doing are needed. 

They are the best and

It is a blessing.

We are so grateful.

We are not alone.

Blessed is the Source of Light and Darkness,

We are holy with the obligation to do good.

And so tonight we kindle the Hanukah candles

And eat fried foods 

(it doesn’t have to make sense).

Enjoy.

Amen