December is a month full of celebrations, including the first night of Hanukkah Sunday evening, Christmas the following week and Kwanzaa starting Dec. 26.

Hanukkah is known as the festival of lights and for many, lighting the menorah is probably what first comes to mind. But Assaf Mevorach has decided to shake things up and celebrate in a less traditional way.

“There’s nothing more Jewish than being joyous and happy even in the saddest times,” he said.

Which is why Mevorach is celebrating by putting together a blacklight rave the evening before the first night of Hanukkah. He started organizing different events around Portland after Oct. 7, 2023, the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

“I needed to contribute something too … with all the activism and things that happen around the hostages,” Mevorach explained. “I felt like there’s one piece that is missing that I can actually bring some value in, which is [to] bring joy, even in the saddest times.”

Mevorach spoke with OPB’s “All Things Considered” host Crystal Ligori about the Hanukkah Rave he’s planning at the Barrel Room in Portland.

Crystal Ligori: What was the inspiration behind having a rave to kick off Hanukkah?

Assaf Mevorach: Well, I am secular. I am a Jew [and] I celebrate Hanukkah, but I celebrate Hanukkah in a tradition that comes from my own family, and from my own community. Growing up in Israel, having my upbringing take me to places like rave festivals and music in general played a big place in my life.

I thought it could be a fun, playful way for adults to come together and celebrate Hanukkah in a non-traditional way.

Ligori: Can you tell us a little bit about what the event is gonna be?

Mevorach: The event is going to center around electronic music and dancing, just like any rave [and] also include traditional foods of Hanukkah only [with] a new take done by chef Itzik Steinberg. And we’re gonna have long sets of music that will allow people to connect and dance to different tunes of electronic music and we’re going to bring in the elements of Hanukkah without actually celebrating Hanukkah directly, without lighting a menorah or singing Hanukkah songs, at least not in their traditional tune. They may be weaved into the electronic music.

Ligori: Why a rave specifically for this celebration?

Mevorach: I think rave, which is something I love and cherish and still go to festivals even at this stage of my life, is something that always fascinated me because it is a place that brings elements of so much more beyond music.

It is a place of community. It’s a place to present new, innovative, ritualistic practices. And it’s a place of love and connection and unity and in a lot of ways, it kind of replaced or came in addition to the historical way that we celebrated religious holidays, and that’s what it served for me.

And I thought that looking at these two spiritualistic rituals – Hanukkah (or just any religious holiday) and rave – and seeing all the similarities between them, all the things that are very much happening in both, made me think that it would be so interesting for adults that love both, to enjoy it in one night that brings the two elements together.

Ligori: Who do you hope is going to attend the event on Saturday?

Mevorach: Usually, the people who attend my events are Israelis who live in Portland, and Jews and all their friends and anyone that is connected to this community. But in the last couple of years, attendance to these parties have grown way beyond that. It’s basically anyone that wants to celebrate and have fun and enjoy a dance party that is more than a dance party, that has a whole community in it.

Ligori: You mentioned that you celebrate in a more secular way, so what does Hanukkah mean to you?

Mevorach: Moving to the U.S. from Israel, I realized Hanukkah is a very different holiday in the U.S. versus Israel. In Israel, it’s just another holiday on the Jewish calendar. It’s a fun holiday. It has the elements of light. It always captivated my imagination and attracted me from all its universal messaging. But in the U.S. it has a whole different meaning because it kind of stands up to be one of the holidays of the end of the year together or in contrast with Christmas and it’s kind of rose almost to the level of importance of Christmas for the American Jewish community.

However, for me, it’s always been a holiday that revolves around the idea that each one of us is a small light and together we have a lot of strength and when we come together, although we feel sometimes as an individual very powerless, we have a lot of power and we can change things. This is what’s in the essence of this holiday. It’s a holiday that reminds us that, even in the darkest times, we can all bring the light together and in this sense light is the coming together as community, creating joy around food and dance and drink and music… All of it is bringing us the joy that each one of us [is] longing for at this moment.

Ligori: Does this year feel any different and if so, how does having a rave speak to that?

Mevorach: Yeah. This year feels different. The last couple of years have been tremendously hard for the Israeli community, living abroad and obviously in Israel, and also the Jewish community. And the message of Hanukkah is all about the darkness that is out there, but the hope and the optimism that there is within us. That we can actually change that and change is coming from the light that is within us. When we come together, each one of us with its own very individual light, we create a change on all sorts of levels. This is basically the message of Hanukkah.

People can feel isolated, disconnected, or lonely – especially at this time of the year when days are getting shorter. Coming together and connecting and dancing and having fun reminds us that we’re not alone in this. We have a community and showing up is your contribution to a change.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/12/12/hanukkah-rave-portland-festival-of-lights/