Jews, Modernity, Tradition: "The Kindling of the Hanukkah Lights" & "Lavater and Lessing Visit Moses Mendelssohn"

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik explores how Moritz Daniel Oppenheim's Hanukkah paintings reflect the tension between private and public expressions of Jewish faith. The episode traces the evolution of the Hanukkah ritual, from Talmudic laws about lighting the menorah in public to centuries of forced concealment to Jews lighting candles in in the public square. Rabbi Soloveichik also examines Oppenheim’s portrayal of Moses Mendelssohn and the challenges of Jewish integration in Enlightenment Germany—offering a powerful contrast to the American experience of religious freedom, symbolized by a menorah lighting at the White House.