Tonight we mark the first night of Hanukkah, creating light during one of the longest nights of the year and lighting a path forward from a period of great anguish.
As we light the Hanukkah candles, we remember the many other times we created hope and resistance over the last four years, and what we can do in the next chapter with your support:
🔥 We mobilized the largest Jewish grassroots effort in 2020 to kick white nationalism out of the White House and elect leaders who will fight for all of us — and we won.
🔥 We helped flip the House in 2018 to block the Trump administration’s bigotry and authoritarianism. In 2020, we kept the House, and in 2021, we will lay the groundwork for winning elections to come.
🔥 We showed up for and alongside our partners. In 2021, we will continue to rise up Jewishly and in solidarity.
🔥 We fought for voting rights, health care, criminal justice reform, and more. In 2021, we will continue building movements and passing policies so everyone can thrive.
🔥 We fought every instance of the Muslim Ban. In 2021, we will support Muslim civil rights that can’t be taken away.
🔥 We joined the uprising for Black lives. In 2021, we will continue to bring our spiritual, political, and intellectual resources to the Movement for Black Lives.
🔥 We demanded freedom and safety for immigrants. In 2021, we will rise up with Dreamers and their families for permanent protections.
🔥 After the worst antisemitic massacre in our country’s history, we told Trump he was not welcome in Pittsburgh, or anywhere, until he rejected white nationalism. In 2021, we will push the white nationalist movement further out of the halls of power.
For the last four years, we’ve fought for our values on the local, state, and national level. We’ve organized our communities, held elected officials accountable, and won critical victories with partners. We’ve shown up in the streets and on Zoom. Everywhere we’ve seen injustice, we’ve risen up to fight it.
Most people, when they retell the Hanukkah story, stop when the Maccabees win the war and light the menorah to rededicate the Temple.
In truth, after the miraculous oil burned out, our story’s heroes became much like their oppressors, forcing others to convert against their will. This history serves as a sobering reminder that our story does not end after a battle is won. Every day we have to rededicate ourselves to our vision for the world — with or without a tyrant to fight against.
When you donate to Bend the Arc you're joining with progressive Jews from across the country all rising up to rededicate ourselves to this work — to fighting for justice, showing up for and alongside our allies, and creating light where there is oppression.
