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Religious freedom worthy of celebration
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As Jews worldwide celebrate Chanukah, Jewish children play with a spinning top called a dreidel. On the four sides of this toy are the letters that stand for the words: "Nes Gadol Hayah Sham," or "a Great Miracle Happened There." The miracle is referring to the small bit of oil, lighting the lamp, that lasted for eight days while the temple was being rededicated after being
defiled by the Syrians.
We sometimes forget of the miracles that God provides for us daily, from our first waking breath, to our daily bread, to so many of the things we take for granted. King David taught that we should bless and thank God a minimum of 100 times a day. Indeed the name Jew, from Yahudah, means to be grateful.
For American Jews, our biggest miracle is the one of religious freedom. President George Washington wrote to the Jews of Newport, R.I., in 1790: "Happily the Government of the United States ... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. ... May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while everyone shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid."
Our Chanukah menorahs are placed in our windows to, as our rabbis taught 2,200 years ago, remind all people of the value of liberty and religious
freedom. Happy holidays.
Arthur Segal
Hilton Head Island
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