Preparing for Hanukkah — Judaism’s celebration of finding light in the darkness — feels uniquely somber yet defiant this year for the diverse Jewish community in Miami-area towns that many consider a welcoming home for their faith.
Even here, daily life for many Jews has been upended by the surprise attack on Oct. 7 in Israel, when Hamas militants killed about 1,200, mostly civilians, and by the rise in antisemitism worldwide during the ensuing war, in which more than 15,000 Palestinians have died.
