Toledoans are set to light the first candle of Hanukkah on Sunday.

In a year that's seen a rising tide of intimidation and violence against Jewish Americans, including in Toledo, they're hoping its light will extend farther than the dining room.

“Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights,” said Daniel Pearlman, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council at the Jewish Federation of Greater Toledo. “And as such, we thought it was appropriate to shine a light on antisemitism during the holiday of Hanukkah.”

Northwest Ohio is joining communities across the country in this shared goal, its upcoming rally among dozens of events put on by federations across the country in the next eight days. The local rally is slated for 3:30 p.m. Dec. 5, outside the Sylvania YMCA/JCC, 6465 Sylvania Ave., Sylvania, and is set to include remarks from politicians, educators, law enforcement officers, and representatives of various religious, ethnic, and minority groups; there will also be a public menorah lighting and the usual holiday treats like latkes and the jelly-doughnut sufganiyot.

New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Kansas City, Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, San Antonio, and Toronto are among the other communities that also have awareness-raising events in the works, according to Shine a Light, the national initiative backed by a coalition of more than 60 Jewish and non-Jewish organizations across the United States and Canada.

Its efforts go farther than community events: Shine a Light is also offering related educational and workplace resources, plus media outreach and advocacy including some high-profile displays during Hanukkah. It's behind efforts to light up iconic properties on Sunday, including parts of the World Trade Center; they'll go yellow, to symbolize the candlelight of the menorah.

While the methods may be multifaceted, the message is the same: “Shine A Light uses the powerful story of Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, to champion the message that light can dispel darkness,” organizers write in a press release. “It seeks to catalyze conversations within and across communities, on school campuses, and in the workplace, so that people will better understand what constitutes antisemitism and take steps to respond.”

Hanukkah is an eight-day festival that recalls the unlikely victory of the Jewish Maccabees over the Syrian Greeks, and the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem; it's in this sense a celebration of victory over religious persecution.

With less spiritual weight than September’s High Holidays, it’s also a light-hearted celebration oriented more toward cozy gatherings of family and friends than long hours in the synagogue. Before and between the requisite plates of latkes and games of dreidel, central to each night’s celebration is the lighting of the menorah – one more candle for each consecutive night.

That candlelight recalls the story of Hanukkah: An amount of oil that should have lasted just one day is said to have miraculously burned for eight in the rededicated Temple.

Organizers of Shine a Light see relevant themes in the story and the holiday when it comes to combating antisemitism: light over darkness, good over evil. And they see now as an important time to make these connections.

More than half of all religiously-motivated hate crimes in 2020 were against Jews, who account for just 2 percent of the national population, according to the American Jewish Committee, citing statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

One in four Jewish Americans were victims of antisemitism over the past year, according to an expansive report released by the AJC in October; roughly the same amount are affiliated with a Jewish institution that has been targeted in the past five years.

Another four in ten report changing their behaviors in response to antisemitism, according to the AJC’s 2021 State of Antisemitism in America: 25 percent reported that they have avoided posting content online that would reveal their Jewishness or their views on Jewish issues; 22 percent refrained from publicly wearing, carrying, or displaying items that might enable others to identify them as Jewish; and 17 percent avoided certain places, events, or situations out of concern for their safety or comfort as Jews.

On college campuses, according to a separate survey conducted for Hillel International and the Anti-Defamation League, roughly one in three Jewish students reported that they experienced antisemitism directed toward them in the last academic year.

The same survey, released in October, found that most students who experienced antisemitism did not report it – particularly in cases that were not physical violence or threats of physical violence – suggesting the frequency of such incidents is even higher.

Northwest Ohio isn’t exempt. Mr. Pearlman doesn’t need to think farther back than a swastika that appeared on the campus of the University of Toledo in June, or the man arrested in a plot to commit terrorism at local synagogues who was sentenced just this September.

“Antisemitism has been an issue for over 2,000 years, but especially over the last five years or so, there’s been a huge increase in antisemitism nationwide, as well as in the state of Ohio, as well as in Toledo, in Lucas County,” he said.

It’s a key impetus for the local rally, he said.

Co-sponsored by Congregation B’nai Israel, Congregation Etz Chayim, Temple Shomer Emunim, and the YMCA of Greater Toledo, it’s organized both as an opportunity to stand in solidarity with the Jewish community – and, for some, to learn about it, too.

“The goal is to spread awareness on antisemitism, but also awareness on Judaism and Hanukkah,” Mr. Pearlman said, “just to help to educate the community.”

CELEBRATE HANUKKAH

Shine a Light on Antisemitism isn’t the only public observation of Hanukkah in Toledo.

Chabad House of Toledo kicks off the holiday with its long-running menorah lighting party at Franklin Park Mall, 5001 Monroe St., at 4 p.m. Sunday. It’s outdoors for a second year, in light of the continued coronavirus pandemic; gather in the parking lot near Dick’s Sporting Goods.

In addition to lighting the first night’s candle on the menorah, participants will enjoy doughnuts, latkes, a juggler performance — and, for the first time in Toledo, a gelt drop.

Gelt is money, sometimes in chocolate form, explained Chabad House’s Rabbi Shmouel Matusof, and it’s customary to give it to children and others during Hanukkah. Chabad House has arranged for chocolate coins to drop from a fire department’s ladder truck, in what he said is becoming a popular feature of public celebrations in many communities.

The free and public event tends to be their most popular for Hanukkah, drawing around 200 attendees, Rabbi Matusof said. But Chabad House has more observances lined up:

■ Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz is set to participate in the third annual menorah lighting in front of One Government Center at 4:30 p.m. Monday. There will again be music, donuts and latkes.

■ A Car Menorah Parade takes off from Chabad House, 2728 King Rd., at 7 p.m. Saturday; to participate, RSVP at bit.ly/​3CH4KAV.

■ And, in a continuation of a popular feature set up last year under social-distancing guidelines, a festive truck is available for home visits between Monday and Dec. 5; for more information or to set up a visit, go to bit.ly/​3CH4KAV. “We’re going to visit people in their homes and bring them the joy of Hanukkah,” Rabbi Matusof said

First Published November 28, 2021, 1:00 p.m.