Happy Hanakah (War is over.)

37 years ago, almost to the day, the great John Lennon released a single called Happy Xmas (War is Over). On tonight, the first night of Hanakah, when Jews around the world get together to sing and light candles praising their miracle of oil, we should take the time to work toward peace.

There is great discontent with the war in Iraq. Bloomberg.com writes that more than half of Americans want to set a schedule to withdraw all troops, a significant change from September.

John's words still ring true.

And so this is Xmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong

War hurts our country and our world. Oil prices have gone up, life expectancy has gone down, and hope for a better future has stalled. We need change for the better, we need to change for the better.

And so happy Xmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight

This is not a time for petty bickering, but a time for action. This war is killing our country. We are losing our sons and daughters, both from the physical injury and harm of the war along with its psychological effects. The worst thing is that this war prevents us from taking care of things that really desrve our attention, like the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Its time to end war. Peace Takes Courage.

Happy Hanakah. And a happy holidays.