Hanukkah commemorates the ability of ancient Jewish fighters to keep their menorah, a nine-branched candelabrum, lit for eight days with only one day’s worth of oil during their persecution under the Greek Empire.
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Auckland’s tallest menorah, a ceremonial lamp, will be lit on December 13 at Albert Park in celebration of the eight-day Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
Rabbi Yerachmiel Gorelik, director of the Rohr Chabad Jewish Center of Northern Colorado and the only orthodox rabbi in Fort Collins, led the ceremonial prayers and sang some favorite Chanukah songs, including The Dreidel Song and S’veevon.
Rabbi Shmuli Brown told the ECHO that he wants everyone in Liverpool to join the Jews in sharing the light of Chanukah this December: “especially in this dark period where so many tragic things are happening all around the world”.
On Sunday, the Lubavitch-Chabad Jewish Student and Community Center hosted “The Chanukah Factory – A Hands-on Experience”, a family-friendly event to mark the beginning of the Jewish Hanukkah holiday, which began at dusk. Hakhel is an opportunity to celebrate Jewish unity and learning.
Major Brett Landsberg also spoke about his 28 years with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office before lighting the menorah. During Chanukah the mitzvah, the commandment, is not to actually light the Chanukah candles.
Shactman said she was honored to be asked to light one of the candles and was glad she could celebrate “a lot of attractive traditions”. For the second year in a row I also got to read Rabbi Menachem Schneerson’s letter, written in 1980, that is shared annually with many Lubavitcher-inspired congregations. “And the story and lesson of Hanukkah teaches us and teaches the children, making it real to them, that that lesson is as relevant and will be true today as much as it was then”.
The miracle of Hanukkah is that only one vial of oil was found with just enough oil for one day, and yet it lasted for eight full days, Eber explained. The first time she lighted one at the Loveland event, she said, she was four months’ pregnant with Ryder.
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“We’re celebrating our religious freedom”, stressed Krasnianski. They are also very timely given that Chanukah this year begins on the 74th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack.
