ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Darkness simply cannot exist when there’s light. That’s more than a fact. It’s a life’s lesson that Hanukkah teaches.

The more than 2,000-year-old story tells of oil used to light a temple. There was only enough oil to light it for one day, but the oil lasted for eight days.

Rabbi Alter Korf says that miracle is a reminder to persevere no matter how dark things may seem.

“So if we can each be ambassadors of light,” he said, “to amplify the good, the kindness within people, it will not take away from us.”

More recent history has seen a sharp increase in antisemitic slurs and attacks since 2020. Rabbi Korf says it all makes celebrating Hanukkah even more important.

“We can get down and dirty and try to fight it,” he said. “It’s never effective. What we can do is light a candle because a little bit of light can dispel a lot of darkness.” Rabbi Korf’s wife Chaya takes the community-wide celebration even further as a remedy in the face of antisemitism. 

“We’ll that’s the miracle of Hanukkah is that naturally the oil was only supposed to last for one day,” she said. “Uphill battle. We couldn’t get new oil for 8 days. Why bother starting? But we started. We lit that oil. We did our part and God did the rest.”