“Longest Night for Gaza” vigils in a dozen locations across the United States and Canada grieved Dec. 21-22 for the 14-month genocide in Gaza. The activities lamented how the actions by Israel have been funded and enabled by the United States, and committed to taking action for Palestine in the months and years ahead.

A group met Dec. 20 in Hyattsville, Md., for a somber service marking the darkness of the winter solstice and the period of Advent waiting, and gathered around Christ in the rubble outside.

About 75 people gathered in 10-degree weather in Madison, Wis., Dec. 21 for an interfaith vigil with members of Jewish Voice for Peace, Madison Mennonite Church, Friends Meeting of Madison, Madison for a World Beyond War, Memorial United Church of Christ and Orchard Ridge UCC.

“Hanukkah, which this year starts on Dec. 25, commemorates the Hebrews shaking off a ruthless occupation, finding a small pot of oil and reigniting the light in the temple, which the Greeks had desecrated. It celebrates liberation and the return of light,” said Esty Dinur, host of Madison’s WORT’s Friday noon A Public Affair radio show and member of Jewish Voice for Peace. Born and raised in Israel, Dinur is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor.

“As we watch the genocide of the Palestinian people by Israel and the U.S., we hold the light for the end of this massacre and the beginning of Palestinian liberation,” she said. “May it come now.”

Other activities included teach-ins, tying comforters, assembling Mennonite Central Committee relief kits and singing in locations including Baltimore; Niagara, Ont.; Hamilton, Ont.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Goshen, Ind.; Colorado Springs; Bluffton, Ohio; Buffalo, N.Y.; Raleigh, N.C.; Harrisonburg, Va.; and Morgantown, W.Va. More than 100 people gathered online with a Palestinian Christian in Ramallah, Palestine, to hear from different regions.

Blossom Hill Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pa., held an evening service lament followed by a prayer vigil that ended with communion at 4 a.m.