These past cou­ple of years have been dif­fi­cult ones for the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty. From the dark day of Octo­ber 7th itself and through the war (now thank­ful­ly at an end), with anti­semitism com­ing from all sides and divi­sions and argu­ments pulling at our com­mu­ni­ties from with­in, these have not been easy times to sim­ply sit back and find joy in our Jew­ish­ness. And yet, it’s in moments like these when find­ing Jew­ish joy is even more impor­tant, vital, and urgent. And that joy is exact­ly what I hope to cul­ti­vate and spread with the pub­li­ca­tion of my very first book, Twin­kle, Twin­kle, Hanukkah.

Over these past two years, I’ve been lucky enough to find Jew­ish joy both in places I expect­ed and in places that were new. In the warm com­pa­ny of fam­i­ly and friends, I have con­tin­ued to embrace Jew­ish tra­di­tions and cel­e­bra­tions that our peo­ple have kept going – and that have kept our peo­ple going – for mil­len­nia. And in the Jew­ish polit­i­cal cir­cles in which I vol­un­teer, which have been dif­fi­cult but have brought their own sort of joy by way of mean­ing­ful work, I have found sat­is­fac­tion. And then there are my new­found Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ties, includ­ing in the pub­lish­ing world in which I work, both through the Jew­ish Book Coun­cil (which has brought pub­lish­ing pro­fes­sion­als togeth­er in a won­der­ful way) and through our new­ly launched employ­ee resource group at Pen­guin Ran­dom House; one of my favorite sta­ples of this group is our Fri­day tra­di­tion of explic­it­ly shar­ing Jew­ish joy in our group chat. In the com­pa­ny of com­mu­ni­ties new and old, I’ve been mak­ing a point of eat­ing at Jew­ish and Israeli-owned restau­rants, and if you’re look­ing for some New York City rec­om­men­da­tions, might I sug­gest Buba Bure­ka, Beyond Sushi, Miri­am, and Seed +Mill, just to name a few. Per­haps most deeply and per­son­al­ly of all, I have been find­ing incred­i­ble Jew­ish joy through the pub­li­ca­tion of my new book.

I start­ed writ­ing this book well before Octo­ber 7th, and there was no way that I could have known what the world into which it would pub­lish would look like. But the world look­ing as it does now has made me even more grate­ful to be able to add more Jew­ish joy into the mix. Twin­kle, Twin­kle, Hanukkah , told in the style and rhythm of ​“Twin­kle, Twin­kle, Lit­tle Star,” is a cel­e­bra­tion of all things Hanukkah— from light­ing can­dles, to play­ing with drei­dels, to eat­ing latkes, and so much more. With its sweet cadence, its beau­ti­ful, vibrant art (cour­tesy of the extreme­ly tal­ent­ed Aura Lewis), and even down to the spark­ly foil on its cov­er, this is a book that was cre­at­ed with the express pur­pose of shin­ing bright­ly and bring­ing more joy into this world. 

Hanukkah has always been a hol­i­day about bring­ing light into the dark­ness. It is also, as I say in the book, a sto­ry of Jew­ish sur­vival against the odds. This hol­i­day sea­son, as we read books about Hanukkah (and maybe even give them as Hanukkah gifts!), my hope is that Twin­kle, Twin­kle, Hanukkah finds its way into the mix and that its mes­sage of joy in Jew­ish his­to­ry, tra­di­tion, and com­mu­ni­ty shines through and res­onates with every­one cel­e­brat­ing right now.

And for any­one look­ing for even more books that help cel­e­brate this hol­i­day and make it extra bright this year, I’m hap­py to share a few rec­om­men­da­tions for oth­er Hanukkah-themed pic­ture books for kid­dos, fam­i­lies, and every­one else to enjoy:

• I can’t make a list of Hanukkah pic­ture books with­out start­ing with Her­schel and the Hanukkah Gob­lins, writ­ten by Eric Kim­mel and illus­trat­ed by Tri­na Schart Hyman. This book is a true clas­sic, a favorite of mine from child­hood, and one that I still love to come back to and read with my nieces and nephews.
• Anoth­er great option for a Hanukkah read is Meet the Latkes, writ­ten and illus­trat­ed by Alan Sil­ber­berg. This fun and fun­ny hol­i­day romp will have the lit­tle ones laugh­ing – and it’ll leave the adults read­ing it doing the same, which is always a plus.
• And last­ly, there’s the won­der­ful Eight Sweet Nights, A Fes­ti­val of Lights, writ­ten by Char­lotte Off­say and illus­trat­ed by Mena­hem Hal­ber­stadt. This book is a sweet, spe­cial, cel­e­bra­tion of tra­di­tion, with art that tru­ly shines off the page. 

As we head into this hol­i­day sea­son, may you all find ways to cel­e­brate, ways to share light, and ways to spread Jew­ish joy as much as pos­si­ble. As we head toward Hanukkah, I can’t imag­ine a bet­ter gift than that.