VP Harris and husband Doug Emhoff will light a menorah at the vice president’s residence
Image by Kiran Ridley/Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh November 28, 2021
Douglas Emhoff, the Jewish husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, marked the first night of Hanukkah at the annual lighting ceremony of the National Menorah on The Ellipse outside the White House on Sunday. Then he and Vice President Harris planned to light a hanukkiah in a window of their official residence.
“The story of Hanukkah is the history of a people who do not simply persevere in the face of tragedy, but ones who are committed to their faith, proud of their tradition, and grateful for the many miracles and blessings in our lives,” Emhoff said in brief remarks at the ceremony organized by Rabbi Levi Shemtov of American Friends of Lubavitch in Washington, D.C.
Douglas Emhoff, the Jewish husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, marked the first night of Hanukkah at the annual lighting ceremony of the National Menorah on The Ellipse outside the White House on Sunday. Image by Screenshot
“As we light this menorah on the lawn of the free, let us rededicate ourselves to doing everything we can to shine a light on hate, so we can put an end to hate,” Emhoff added.
The Second Gentleman, who recently affixed a mezuzah to the doorpost of the vice president’s residence, will also celebrate the Jewish holiday with his wife at their home, a few miles from the White House.
From our family to yours, Happy Hanukkah. pic.twitter.com/yfCQfsE1uX
— Douglas Emhoff (@SecondGentleman) November 29, 2021
“Like so many of us gathered here today, my family members left Europe in search of safety and security,” Emhoff told the crowd at the menorah lighting ceremony.
“They came to the United States, among the huddled masses, yearning to breathe free. They built a life here — raised children, opened businesses, worshipped at synagogues. And yet, we know, the freedom that my family members, that American Jews everywhere, have yearned for and championed, the freedom that our nation promises to all those who live and worship here, that freedom has, at times, been undermined by hate.”
Emhoff reiterated the vice president’s recent remarks on how the administration is “fully committed to fighting antisemitism” and “call it out wherever it exists.”
“The ancient Maccabees teach us that, in the face of the senseless, the selfless can prevail,” Emhoff said. “In the face of the powerful, the people can prevail. In the face of darkness, light can prevail.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
