This year’s Hanukkah began Thursday and runs through Dec. 15.

The eight-day holiday for Jews and those who’ve converted to Judaism celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century.

During Hanukkah, celebrants light candles on a menorah in the early evening each night. The first candle — called a shammash, or attendant — is used to light another candle each night for the duration of the holiday until all the candles are lit. Hymns or prayers are also done before the candles are lit and games, food, and gift exchanges follow.

For many of the Jewish faith, this year’s holiday is bittersweet. As they celebrate family and togetherness, they also will mourn the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

“It is a joyous holiday where we light the candles, sing, and exchange gifts, but of course, we are going to mourn and grieve all of the victims in Israel and the Gaza Strip,” Ken Diamond, the president of the congregation for Temple Beth-El in Alpena, told Steve Schulwitz for a recent story.

Antisemitic attacks — written, verbal, and physical — have also been on the rise around the world since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, though, thankfully, Diamond told News staff writer Temi Fadayomi for an earlier story that Northeast Michigan has been overwhelmingly supportive.

We wish every Northeast Michigander of the Jewish faith a very happy Hanukkah. We hope the holiday is filled with joy, laughter, and peace.

We also mourn with you the loss of lives in Israel.

We also stand with you against hate in any form.

Happy Hanukkah.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)