Local rabbi will celebrate, commemorate Hanukkah at the White House

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Twenty-four hours a day via cable news channels and social media, the world watches as Israel responds to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed more than 1,000 people. Weeks later, an estimated 17,000 Palestinians are dead and more than 2 million are homeless.

Rabbi Israel Zoberman, founder of Temple Lev Tikvah, has a web of family members in Haifa, Israel.

“Well, it’s a difficult time as we all know so well. I call them daily to check on them. Israel is one small family, even if you don’t know someone directly there are quite a few who were murdered and brutalized in ways that defy imagination. Everyone knows somebody who was touched directly by that kind of a tragedy,” Zoberman said.

On Monday Zoberman will travel to Washington, where he will celebrate Hanukkah with the President Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden at the White House. In 2006, he celebrated the festival of lights with President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush, and in 2012 he celebrated with President Barack Obama and Mrs. Michelle Obama.

The rabbi’s family has seen war before during the season of celebrations.

“So whenever we celebrate Hanukkah once a year, we recall with joy and also with a sense of feeling for the sacrifices of both the victors and the vanquished. Because whenever you fight, you know they are going to be victims on both sides and innocent people get hurt. As we see right now in Gaza, for example. But the point is that we have to spread the light of liberty around the world,” Zoberman said.

Regina Mobley: Rabbi Zoberman, how do you find the fuel in your heart to celebrate as your home country is at war? We have mass shootings in America every day, and many people are starving.

Rabbi Zoberman: Good question, it’s a rabbinical question. But we have a response to it, especially when it’s so dark outside of disease, war, homelessness and hunger. We have to remind ourselves that we still have light with which to overcome the darkness. We have the tools to create a much better world. The Jewish approach is to create paradise here on this planet Earth so that when we light the candles, we don’t forget about the suffering of others

And that’s the message Rabbi Zoberman hopes to spread at the White House Monday evening when he dines with dignitaries and politicians. Additional funding for Israel and Ukraine remains stalled in the Senate.

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