In a time when many are feeling scared to display menorahs for Hannukah, a Los Angeles man’s movement is gaining global participation -- asking neighbors, Jewish or not, to display a symbol of solidarity this holiday season.
“For the first time in my life, I had to think twice. How public do I want to display my Judaism right now?” Project Menorah Founder and Los Angeles resident Adam Kulbersh said.
It’s a sentiment many Jewish people are feeling this holiday season, with antisemitic incidents up 337% since the Israel-Hamas War in Oct.
“My parents don’t know exactly when they were born, it’s my mom’s birthday today, but they don’t even have a birth certificate to their name, everything they had, gone,” Cypress resident David Halahmy said.
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His parents were two of nearly a million Iraqi-Jews exiled from Iraq in the 1940s. At a young age, they moved to Israel and then to America.
“I think of what they went through their whole life and how much they’ve persevered and done. It's just amazing,” he expressed.
It’s a story of survival that makes him emotional this Hanukkah.
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“I have kids now, I have a little baby, and there’s this generation to generation. All these various powers have tried to bring down the Jewish people, but we survive, there’s always that light out of that darkness,” he said.
Halahmy, who is also a history professor at Cypress College, referenced Roddie Edmonds, an American soldier in World War II, who ended up in a Nazi prison. A German commandant wanted to know which of the soldiers held captive were Jewish so that they could execute them. Edmonds stood in front of hundreds of soldiers, with a gun to his head, and proclaimed, “We are all Jews.”
Halahmy explained that displaying a menorah, or another symbol of Jewish support, in the window this holiday is the same sentiment.
“It’s this idea that we are all Jews,” he said.
“Project Menorah is about fighting antisemitism. It's about fighting hate,” explained Kulbersh.
He got the idea when he had to tell his 6-year-old son that they wouldn’t be putting up Hanukkah decorations this year.
“He was devastated. And it was a hard moment for me as a parent. And I shared this difficult moment with a friend of mine. And without hesitation, my friend, Jennifer Marshall said, ‘I'm going to go buy a menorah, and I'm going to put it in our window, you know we're not Jewish, but I want to show our solidarity,’” Kulbersh said.
That’s when he realized exactly what his people needed. He started a website for people to print a menorah and hang in their window. He named it Project Menorah.
“Then you put it online with the hashtag Project Menorah, and you tell the world, only love lives here,” he exclaimed.
To Halahmy, it’s a gesture more than words can say.
“It is a choice to accept somebody’s right to live,” he said. “If all the neighbors put up a little menorah, anything, it would make them feel so loved, not alone.”
In just two weeks, Kulbersh said he’s seen posts for Project Menorah all over the world.
“I've seen posts from Australia, England, Scotland, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Senegal. It's really gone wild in the most wonderful way.”
The Alpert Jewish Community Center in Long Beach, home to the Jewish Federation of Greater Long Beach and West Orange County, also offers a safe space to light a candle each night of Hanukkah. Click here to learn more about their community resources.
You can print a Menorah here.
You can also learn more about Jewish history on Halahmy’s Youtube page.
