How do we light candles, sing songs of gratitude, spin the dreidel, and eat latkes - in the shadow of devastating loss and tragedy?

This episode begins with that tension. On one end of the world, the beautiful celebration of Chanukah at Bondi Beach was shattered by an antisemitic attack. We remember moments when Jews lit Chanukah candles in places like Bergen-Belsen, clinging to meaning when there was almost nothing left.

We reflect on the haunting video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, and on Viktor Frankl’s insight that “those who have a why to live can bear almost any how.” Chanukah does not ask us to ignore suffering. It asks us to hold light and darkness together - to choose meaning, resilience, and hope, even when life feels unbearably fractured.

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