Letter to the Editor

NewCanaanite.com recently received the following letter. Send letters to editor@newcanaanite.com to have them published here.

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This Sunday, December 21, residents are invited to attend the community menorah lighting at God’s Acre. The event begins at 3:30 p.m. and is free and open to everyone. Families can enjoy donuts, hot latkes, and a festive Hanukkah chocolate gelt drop, with local firefighters tossing chocolate coins from the top of a fire truck for children to catch and collect. Events like this are a reminder that Jewish life is meant to be visible, shared, and celebrated as part of our broader community.

This year’s Hanukkah arrives at a moment of heightened concern for many Jewish families. In recent weeks, antisemitism has moved from something Jews read about in the news to something many quietly brace for in their daily lives — in public spaces, at schools, and close to home. Acts of vandalism, harassment, and violence targeting Jews have increased, including in communities not unlike our own, creating unease at moments that should otherwise feel ordinary and safe.

For Jewish families, this climate registers not as politics, but as lived experience: a pause before attending a public event, a second thought about wearing a Star of David, a moment of hesitation before placing a menorah in the window. This moment is not about political positions or foreign policy. It is about whether Jewish neighbors feel safe, supported, and fully included in the communities they call home.

Hanukkah commemorates a time when Jewish life and practice were under threat, and the determination of a small community to preserve its traditions openly. The holiday is marked by the lighting of candles — a ritual that takes place in the home, but is meant to be seen.

That is why simple, visible acts of solidarity matter. At a time of heightened antisemitism, imagine if neighbors across our town placed a candle in their window during Hanukkah as a quiet signal that says: you belong here; you are safe here; you are not alone. Any candle will do. The gesture itself is what matters.

These gestures do not solve the world’s problems. But they do something just as important. They remind us that civic values are practiced through everyday actions — choosing presence over silence and participation over distance.

History shows that antisemitism persists not only through hostility, but through inattention. The response is not outrage alone, but community. Light. And shared responsibility.

This Hanukkah, let us choose to be visible in our support for our Jewish neighbors — and in doing so, affirm the kind of town we aspire to be.

Jess Heckerling