It took me decades to make sense of Hanukkah.

Growing up in the former Soviet Union, religion was not part of our existence. It had been stripped away and mostly outlawed. All Jews I knew were secular, although most had a strong Jewish identity. I’d never even heard of Hanukkah until I moved to the US at the age of fifteen.

I first learned about Hanukkah from Chabad girls with whom I went to school for a short time. Their explanation focused on the literal miracle and the religious aspects of the story. These did not resonate with me particularly strongly. The second version of........

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