Harris, Emhoff celebrate start of Hanukkah: ‘even in darkness, we can bring forth the light’

Vice President Harris and her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, celebrated the start of the Hanukkah holiday on Thursday amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. 

“Tonight, we proudly light our menorahs and let them shine out our front windows as a reminder that even in darkness, we can bring forth the light,” Emhoff wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday. “From our family to yours, happy Hanukkah!”

The post included a photo of the two adding the first candle onto the menorah. 

Emhoff earlier on Thursday made an appearance during the National Menorah lighting on the Ellipse near the White House.

Speaking at the event, Emhoff called out the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for what he called their “unacceptable” lack of moral clarity after the presidents declined to say if a call for the genocide of Jewish people would be considered harassment under their campus policies.

“I know you’re in pain. I’m in pain. I know a lot of us are feeling unmoored and afraid. We’ve not seen anything like this moment, and I know it’s scary” Emhoff who is Jewish, said during his speech. 

“Just look at the news the past couple of days. What have we seen? We’ve seen the presidents of some of our most elite universities literally unable to denounce calling for the genocide of Jews as antisemitic,” Emhoff added. “That lack of moral clarity is simply unacceptable.”

The university presidents received massive criticism from both sides after their appearance in a congressional hearing earlier this week when Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) asked the presidents if a call for the genocide of Jewish people would be considered harassment under their campus policies. 

In response, the trio didn’t answer Stefanik’s question directly, explaining that those types of incidents would need to be investigated by the school or depended on the context and how pervasive the calls were.

The White House has been addressing the rise of antisemitism, as well as Islamophobia, since Hamas’ surprise attack against Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Israeli residents.