WATCH: A Moving Yiddish Hanukkah Song For 2016

Image by Getty Images

By Anthony Russell December 29, 2016

Among the numerous meanings Hanukkah has accrued over the centuries, the one that feels most urgent to me now is the opportunity to recall that bravery in the face of tyranny need not be confined to Jewish history. The tired, poor and huddled masses still yearn to breathe free, and Hanukkah is a reminder that the story of our Jewish liberation is tied up with theirs.

I’ve just recorded and created this music video for Morris Rosenfeld’s Hanukkah song “Likhtelekh” (little candles) which depicts aspects of our present political reality:

Learn more about Russell’s work on his website.

Eight years after making his professional operatic debut in a Philip Glass world premiere, Anthony Russell is now a vocalist, composer and arranger specializing in Yiddish art and folk song, chazones and Chasidic nigunim.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO