Milwaukee VA marks Hanukkah with menorah-lighting ceremony
Children’s voices, lifted in song, helped the Milwaukee VA celebrate Hanukkah during a ceremony Tuesday in the hospital’s chapel.
Second-graders from Bader Hillel Academy in Milwaukee helped ring in the Jewish holiday, which runs Dec. 7-15 this year. They sang a number of songs, including Hanukkah holiday favorites, and watched as a large, electric menorah was lighted.
Each day of Hanukkah is marked by lighting one candle atop a menorah, symbolizing the eight days a menorah stayed lit after the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the second century BC, though there was only enough oil for the menorah to burn for one day.
Rabbi Levi Emmer, Milwaukee VA chaplain, noted that the fifth candle was lighted on Tuesday, marking the first day in Hanukkah when light is more prevalent than darkness on the menorah.
“So when we find ourselves in darkness, what do you do? We have to light a candle. … Each one of us has the menorah inside. We have to light that candle and bring out the joy.”
He also told the story of a famous photo taken by Rachel Posner in Germany in 1931, depicting a menorah in the foreground and a Nazi flag in the background.
“On the back of this photograph, she wrote, ‘The flag says the Jews have to die. And the menorah says Judah will live,’” he said.
He compared it to the Maccabees, who took back the temple in Jerusalem in the face of superior forces. Both stories harken to perseverance in the pursuit of freedom, he said.
“They believed in the cause of freedom,” he said. “They believed and they were ready to stand up.”
Kim Queen, commander of the Department of Wisconsin Jewish War Veterans of the United States, helped light the menorah, which was loaned to the Milwaukee VA by Lubavitch of Wisconsin.
It was the first Hanukkah ceremony at the Milwaukee since the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020, and Queen said he was grateful for its return and the focus on Jewish Veterans.
“All too often, people will say, ‘I didn’t know Jews served. I didn’t know Jews were allowed to serve,’” he said, noting that Jewish service to the country dates back to 1645 when Jewish merchants helped defend New Amsterdam (now New York City).
“With the rise in antisemitism, it’s important to know that we serve right along with everybody else.”
Emmer concurred, saying he visits with Jewish Veterans in the hospital and hears their stories of fighting for the United States and for what it symbolizes: freedom of religion and freedom of culture.
“When thinking about the story of Hanukkah, it’s important to highlight the concept of sacrifice and everything that the VA is here for: That we’re able to live in a great country that allows for and supports such as celebration, even if it’s not the celebration of the majority,” he said. “And it’s important here, in a place where we are dedicated to the medical needs of people who sacrificed for this country.”