Look around today. We ponder the parameters of crazy. We watch Twitter teeter, and Nancy Pelosi step aside. At the same time we consider control of the Senate, coupled with a razor-thin majority in the House. And then in the midst of all that come terrorism warnings from the FBI to synagogues in New Jersey and New York.

And so it goes. The future looks like the past, and our historical memory helps us define our parameters of possibility. The thought of that is both fierce and frightening. But it cuts both ways because we can instead turn to focus on what grounds us, what brings familiarity and comfort. And just in time, ….“Here comes Hanukkah.”

The Festival of Lights appears to have no shtick. No stress. Rather we find an indulgence in who we are and in our cultural identity. Here come the potato latkes, the sufganiyot, the apple cider, the gold gelt coins, and the dreidels.

Please join our in-person Hanukkah festivities on Sunday, December 18, beginning at

5 p.m. Bring your family and friends to Mitchell Park in Greenport for the lighting of the official Greenport Village Menorah. And then come back to the shul for a schmooze with donuts and cider.

And there it is. We have expanded our parameters of possibility.

—Judith K. Weiner