[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 183 (Tuesday, December 10, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1249-E1250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE SACRED LIGHTS OF CHANUKAH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JENNIFER A. KIGGANS

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 10, 2024

  Mrs. KIGGANS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a poem 
submitted at the request of a Virginia Beach constituent, Rabbi Dr. 
Israel Zoberman of Temple Lev Tikvah, and are a reflection of his 
views:

                     The Sacred Lights of Chanukah

     The fragile yet formidable Chanukah candles
     We tenderly lit, daringly defy the suffocating
     Darkness around us and in us,
     Soothing and softening, we pray, all who
     Their magic of evoked memories of elation
     And trepidation with oil--dripping levivot
     (Potato pancakes) for expectant levavot
     (Hearts) while partaking of sustaining sweet
     Sufganiyot (donuts) to counteract the bitterness
     Of previous and following defeats,
     Celebrating a temporary victory before the
     Hasmonians' intra-feuds hastened the demise
     Of short-lived Jewish sovereignty with warning
     Lessons for the contemporary scene of mounting
     Extremism and spreading strife,
     With hostages in death-filled Gaza darkness
     Still-second Chanukah's Festival of Lights
     In captivity, how tragically ironic!--desperately
     Yearning for liberating light lagging too long
     Behind and may not come, and for too many
     Their wondrous light already snuffed out by
     Those adoring the dark with the candle of each
     Unique life burning down before its time and
     Forever lost is that consecrated inner oil,
     Though only we, today's brave Maccabees,
     Possess the priestly power to extinguish

[[Page E1250]]

     The miracle of the bright Chanukia (menorah)
     Embedded deep within us.

  Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman is the founder of Temple Lev Tikvah in 
Virginia Beach. Kazakhstan's only born rabbi, he is the son of Polish 
Holocaust Survivors and spent his early childhood in transit and DP 
Camps in Austria and Germany. He grew up in Haifa, Israel.

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