You probably already know that Hanukkah is not the biggest holiday in the Jewish tradition. In some respects, it’s the least. The argument for it’s prevalence in American culture is that it is the Jewish alternative to Christmas. That’s part of the story, but the other part is that Hanukkah is the only Jewish holiday that has a strong public face: the Hanukkia. (That’s what the 9 branched menorah used at Hanukka is called. This I did not know until quite recently.)
The instructions are to light the Hanukkia in the evening, not during the day when it would not be visible, and to place it in the window on street level where it can be seen by passers-by. One can see how being faithful to these instructions might not have always been safe since simply being Jewish has been a death sentence at times. God willing, those times have passed.
But still, it has to be hard to be different sometimes. There are just not that many Jews total in the world. I can remember there being on Jewish family in the town where I grew up. Certainly there were more, but I did not know about them. So to be Jewish in Israel, and especially in Jerusalem, must be a liberating experience. Never having to explain kosher, much less the more stringent practices of some sects. That serves to explain much of the joy on the faces of so many people on the streets here.