Displaying My Hanukkah Menorah with Pride and Hope

A major tenet of liberation is having the freedom to define oneself and not be defined by others. This includes the ability to live freely, unencumbered by others or by the larger society’s hegemonic promotions of hierarchical positions of who “deserves” to be accorded the rights and privileges of that society based primarily on social identities or adherence to dominant ideologies.

Societies construct isolated and often dangerous places, metaphorically in some cases referred to as “closets” – dark and lonely physical and emotional dwellings of the soul – for those socially subordinated and marginalized for not conforming to social mandates.

Individuals and organizations have employed “religion” to justify the marginalization, harassment, denial of rights, persecution, oppression, and murder of entire groups of people based on their social identities.

At various historical periods, people have applied these texts, sometimes taken in tandem, and at other times used selectively, to establish and maintain hierarchical positions of power, domination, and privilege over individuals and groups targeted by these texts and tenets.

We have seen this throughout the Christian world, from Roman Emperors Constantine I and Theodosius to the Spanish Inquisition, Queen Elizabeth I of England, through Colonial America, Nazi Germany, to the present.

Living openly and proudly as a queer Ashkenazi (eastern European-heritage) Jew, I am aware of my minoritized social status in the United States from personal experience and from my understanding of history, and by what author Shelby Steele refers to as “enemy memory” – or “oppression mentality” – an intense awareness by traditionally marginalized peoples that this oppression can surface again at any time, regardless of how “good” conditional may appear at any given historical moment.

Each year for a series of eight nights, as I light the candles on my Hanukkah menorah (candelabra), the image of another time comes to mind with the photo of a Hanukkah menorah at a window with a German Nazi flag waving across the roadway. Taken by Rachel Posner, wife of Rabbi Akiva Posner, in Kiel, Germany, 1931, the picture portends the eventual destruction of European Jewry.

According to Jewish tradition, we place our Hanukkah menorahs in the window to share publicly the light and hope of the holiday and to symbolically reenact the miracle of the holiday. It shows our declaration of our faith to wider communities.

The menorah holds significant historical roots dating back to ancient times. Deriving from the Temple in Jerusalem, the menorah is a multi-branched candelabrum used for ceremonial purposes, and not only during Hanukkah.

Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days. During this joyous remembrance, families gather to light the menorah, adding one candle each night for eight consecutive nights.

Just over one year after Rachel Posner snapped her iconic picture, the Nazi Party won a majority of seats in the German Reichstag (Parliament) by a plurality of votes, and Adolph Hitler was selected as Chancellor. He then took the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1934.

Increasingly throughout Germany, and eventually within its conquered occupied territories, the Nazi regime took from Jews many of their rights including the right to safely display their faith through their cherished symbols, including their Hanukkah menorahs. This traditional beacon of resilience, hope, and faith, the triumph of light over darkness, the Nazis extinguished for so many.

Looking over the enormously expansive history of anti-Jewish oppression – “the longest hatred” – a recurring pattern emerges from conversion (you cannot live among us as Jews), to expulsion (you cannot live among us), to extermination (you cannot live).

We see this cycle clearly in Medieval Spain. The Catholic Church forced all Jews to convert in 1391 c.e. These converted Baptized Jews they referred to as “Marranos” (meaning “swine”). The Church accused them of secretly remaining true to their Jewish faith and practicing their traditions underground, including lighting their sacred menorahs.

Spanish Christian theologians devised the doctrine of Limpieza de Sangre (purity of the blood) whereby Baptized Jews remained Jewish in the view of the Church, and, therefore, considered a danger to society.

Thereafter, the Church forbad Baptized Jews to practice medicine, surgery, or pharmacy because they believed that Jews would attempt to murder Christians.

Bishop Pablo de Santa Maria in Spain in 1412 introduced the Laws of Valladolid, where he decreed that Jewish districts were to be enclosed and placed under strict control. Jews were forced to wear certain patches on their clothing distinguishing them as Jews.

The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición) was established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Thomas de Torquemada was the Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition.

The Church saw the Marranos as a problem, and it burned many to death in what the Church justified as an auto da fé. The auto da fé (in Medieval Spanish, “act of faith”) represented the ritual of public penance of condemned heretics and apostates during the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions.

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella drove the last Jews from Spain and Portugal since Jews were no longer needed for the economic roles they once filled. Jews were expelled from Spain 1492, July 31 when the Alhambra Decree took effect.

Christopher Columbus departed from the port of Palos rather than the port of Cadiz, which was filled with ships evacuating Jews from Spain. Much of the funding for his voyage was money the Spanish monarchy confiscated from the Jews.

In Spanish-controlled Mexico, historians have found 61 volumes of manuscript records in Inquisition trials. One trial involved Miguel Hernandez de Almeida on the charge of “Judaising Heresy” in 1590 c.e.

And Mariana de Carabejal, who was accused and convicted of “Judaising Heresy,” and burned in an auto da fé.

Historians have located more than 9,000 trials of “Judaising Heresy” brought against so-called “Marranos” between 1500-1700. Many of the accused were found guilty and burned in an auto da fé.

As a side note: the term “heresy” is taken from the Greek αἵρεσις, εως, ἡ (hairesis) meaning “choice.” It was used in the early Roman Christian Church as a crime against the empire, and a “heretic” was a person who opposed established beliefs or customs.

Today, I have the privilege of safety to forthrightly and proudly display my Hanukkah menorah at my window’s edge, and I know that the Jewish people have not always had this right and privilege as many may not still have today.

I hope, however, that we all join together to uphold and extend the light during these times of eclipse attempted by the political and theocratic right by working to empty and dismantle all remaining closets where religious minorities, LGBTQ people, people of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, seniors, and so many other socially marginalized people are often forced to hide.

Let the sun return fully to our lives and to our countries.