Though I am not of the Jewish faith, I grew up celebrating Hannukah. Though my grandparents are Lebanese immigrants, and though I was raised in the Catholic faith, I had not only a “Jiddo” and “Sittie” growing up–that’s Arabic for “grandfather” and “grandmother”–I also had a Zayde and Bubbe, their Yiddish equivalents.

Their real names were Dotty and Mayer Rosenfeld, and they were our neighbors when I was growing up. I had no idea what community treasures they were until long after I’d graduated college. They were the humblest and kindest of people.

When I was born in 1982, my grandmothers lived several hours away in Toledo and Charleston, and my grandfathers had long ago passed away. So the Rosenfelds, who did not have their own grandchildren at the time, asked if they might be my Bubbe and Zayde. My parents enthusiastically agreed, and Bubbe and Zayde became integral parts of my young life.

Zayde taught me to whistle, and to love working in the garden. Bubbe and I read lots of books together, and supervised when I spent endless hours with their schnauzer, whom I adored. But no time together was more special to me than our hybrid holidays. We would go to Kahiki for dinner, I would eat some Hannukah Gelt from Bubbe and Zayde, and I would open eight nights’ worth of gifts before we headed home for the night.

I had little conception of how unique it was, nor how fortunate I was, to grow up in some of their Hannukah traditions as well as in the Christmas traditions my family would celebrate. But I’ve been thinking about intertwining traditions a lot this month as I’ve been reflecting on how different this holiday season feels for so many people, with hateful acts and hateful words again at a fever pitch here and around the world.

But it is therein where I am finding solace.

It is one thing for all of us to condemn hate, which we all must do. We must condemn it whether it’s coming from a stranger, or from the would-be president of the United States.

It is even more important to act with love for our individual and collective humanity. And that is the work our members are doing every day, in service to the spectacular kaleidoscope of faith and ethnic traditions our nearly 200 members employ and serve.

It is their work that we–-Cardella Wood, Bhumika Patel, Bria Bennett, and Rachael Beeman, and I–-are so tremendously proud to support at the Human Service Chamber.

But that work isn’t getting easier: This week, 82% of our members told us that demand is up once again for their services, just since June 2023.

We have so much work to do in the year ahead. But as the brilliant Dr. Mark Lomax recently wrote, we can do great things for humanity if we do them together.

May this holiday season bring peace to all of us, no matter the faith we choose to hold nor from wherever our ancestors may have come.