For both Jews and Christians, this is a season to celebrate — and marvel at — miracles. For Christians, there is Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus. For Jews, the miracles celebrated at Hanukkah, which begins this year at sundown on Tuesday, December 20, include a long-ago military victory of the powerless few over the powerful many and an oil lamp that burned long past the point that it should have run out.

Every year at this time, as we review the year that is coming to a close, we at The Fellowship give thanks for another miracle — the day-to-day wondrous generosity our donors show. You, after all, are indispensable partners in our life-saving work, and your kindness has made its mark on Israel and among poor Jews around the world in 2011. Each time you have given to help feed poor, elderly Jews in Israel, or provide blankets and heating oil for impoverished Jewish families facing a bitterly cold winter in the former Soviet Union, or lift up Jews longing to make aliyah (immigrate to Israel) from Argentina, France, Ukraine, Ethiopia, or other countries, you have worked a miracle for people in need.

Yes, we have helped so many — but, despite our efforts this year, the need remains. Far too many Jews in Israel and around the world still struggle to survive, and must cope daily with the harsh reality of anti-Semitism. Too many impoverished Jewish children in the former Soviet Union are orphaned and abandoned and even living on the cold streets. The global financial crisis has forced too many Jewish charitable institutions to greatly curtail their efforts, leaving a yawning gap of need. It is up to us to step in and fill that need.

So, this blessed season, as both Christians and Jews gather to worship "the God who performs miracles" (Psalm 77:14), let us follow in His path to ensure that this season — and the year to come — will indeed be filled with miracles for those in need around the world. You can do just that by giving a year-end gift to one of The Fellowship's programs that support Jewish people in need, in Israel, and around the world.

As this will be our last e-newsletter for 2011, today I want to wish our Christian friends a peaceful and joyous Christmas. To our Jewish friends, I wish a Hanukkah filled with light. May the coming year bring you peace and prosperity, and may we all soon have the privilege of glimpsing the new, redeemed era, in which, as the prophet says, "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands" (Isaiah 55:12).

With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein