#SHOULD I LIGHT MY MENORAH TONIGHT OR TOMORROW WINDOWS#
But there it was, a government-issued reminder that in the window, where your neighbors can see it, is the place from which your menorah should send out its glow.Įven so, a statement released by the Postal Service with the issue of the new stamp renewed my concerns when it reminded me that “at times in history when it was not safe for Jewish families to make a public declaration of faith, the menorah was set instead in a prominent place inside the home.” Though the statement went on to say that “today in the U.S., many families have renewed the tradition of displaying the menorah in windows during the holiday,” I still wondered if “today” was one of those “not safe” times in history. The design - a traditional branched menorah shown burning in a window against a background of falling snow - seemed innocuous enough, even unseasonably fanciful if you live in California, as I do.
Helping to banish my second thoughts, however, was that new stamp. Is this a wise time to let our light shine? Why was I worried now? Since the previous Chanukah, nothing had changed in our multiethnic and multidenominational neighborhood, a place where non-Jewish neighbors have wished me “Happy Chanukah” and at Passover “gut yontif.” But in the uncertain light of political change in our country, I was worried about what was emerging from the shadows: anti-Semitic iconography online, attacks on Jewish journalists, the re-emergence of Jewish conspiracy stories, Jewish college students being confronted with swastikas. The new Chanukah stamp provided an unexpected source of inspiration for a writer.