Miketz and Chanukah 2022
Chanukah in Washington is a time of parties and gatherings, since it’s a city in which relationships, connections, and shared ideas are so central to the culture. Though I am not political by vocation or nature, D.C. is, as they say, a company town. Thus, it is part of my role as Rabbi to attend many Chanukah gatherings around Washington.
Monday night at the annual White House Chanukah party I looked up at the portrait of George Washington on the wall of the East Room and wondered what President Washington’s reaction would have been to the Ma’ariv minyan gathering in the Red Room — the historic space of so many presidential gatherings and dinner parties. I imagine he would have been satisfied, since he wrote in his letter to the Touro Synagogue in 1790: “For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean (i.e. conduct) themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”
Indeed around the room were many Kesher congregants and friends who are so much more than just “good citizens”. They work tirelessly for our government and country because they believe it is not only a land which has protected the Jewish people and allowed us to freely practice our religion, but also that America’s democratic leadership itself reflects our Jewish values and is vital for the larger world.
Kesher Israel is a very unique Shul due to its geography, its constituency, and its ability to bring Jewish values to the world via its members. So many of our congregants work everyday to actualize their Jewish values in making our country and our world a more peaceful and more noble place for all humanity; and for many, Kesher is the Jewish touchstone and shelter to which they return for inspiration and community each week. We should not underestimate the profound role that we all play for the larger world in being part of Kesher Israel, whether you are a current member, one of its thousands of alumni or one of so many periodic visitors who call it their shul away from home.
Perhaps it is no coincidence that each year during Chanukah we read about Yosef — our ancestor who paved the way for so many generations of Jews who, from Babylonia, to Spain to the United States, would play vital roles in governments throughout history.
Indeed, Washington’s letter to the Touro Synagogue seems to almost reference Chanukah when it says, “May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy." [emphasis mine]
