In the midst of Hanukkah, this past Wednesday, I had the opportunity to join JNF-USA on a trip to Israel’s Negev, the south. We began in a Gaza envelope town called Ofakim, at the home of a woman named Ossi. On October 7, Ofakim was penetrated by Hamas terrorists, leaving 51 individuals murdered, and Ossi’s home struck by a rocket. For the past two years, in partnership with JNF-USA, Ossi has spent multiple days every month making meals for IDF soldiers who enter Gaza. Taking tragedy, loss, and trauma and rededicating the town into a source of nourishment and care is an embodiment of the meaning of Hanukkah: rededication.

On the same day as visiting Ossi’s house and helping to make over 100 sandwiches for IDF soldiers, we went to another site of rededication. Twenty years ago, the southeast corner of the city of Be’er Sheva was a completely unsafe dump, leaving that part of the city undesirable. Due to the imaginative work of JNF-USA, this area of Be’er Sheva has been transformed. This corner of the city is now the Be’er Sheva River Park, beautified with a reservoir, an amphitheater, and more. By rededicating this space into beauty, this area of Be’er Sheva has become a sought-after destination for apartment complexes, shopping, and, one day, the new home of the World Zionist Village. This park and what it has accomplished exemplify what it means to rededicate a space—to take a place destroyed and seemingly hopeless and turn it into something full of life and growth.

With these two experiences in mind, I witnessed how Israel celebrates the values of Hanukkah. Israel does not highlight the rededication of Hanukkah only during the eight days of the holiday, but in the ways the people, land, and state approach each opportunity, every single day. My prayer this Hanukkah is that we are able to mirror this ability not only to rededicate during the holiday, but to have the open-mindedness, creativity, and strength to rededicate daily.

Shabbat Shalom and Hanukkah Sameach from Tel Aviv,

Rabbi Gavriella Kornsgold