Hanukkah is the story of defiance. It is the story of a people who refused to disappear, a light that refused to go out, and a truth that refused to be silenced. It is the story of the Jewish people—and it is the story of our time.

More than 160 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation that all Americans should "observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." And so was born the cherished American holiday, Thanksgiving.