Hanukkah has never been one story—it’s a mirror that reflects what each generation of Jews needs it to be. We’ll trace the myth’s evolution from the Maccabees—religious zealots whose rebellion looks uncomfortably familiar today—to the rabbis who reimagined it as a quiet miracle of oil and hope, and then to its modern retellings: American Jews turning it into a festival of religious freedom and pluralism, and Israelis transforming it into a celebration of national independence. Together we’ll explore what these shifting stories reveal about who we are, and what kind of light we want to kindle now.
