And as they’ve done every year since 2010, the Chabad Lubavitch Centers of Greater Baltimore is teaming with the Baltimore mayor’s office to sponsor an event that has drawn almost 300 people each year to celebrate the occasion.
Advertisement
The eight-day observance, also known as the “Festival of Lights”, recalls how, when the desecrated Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was rededicated once the Maccabees defeated Syrian forces during the second century B.C., a single day’s supply of lamp oil miraculously burned eight days.
Some 300 members of the Jewish community have purchased tickets for the game and festivities, which also feature kosher concessions, a Hanukkah party room and an opportunity for participants to shoot free throws after the game. Latkes with applesauce, hot chocolate and Starbucks coffee will also be served.
When Hanukkah starts on Sunday evening, a 26-foot-tall menorah will illuminate Detroit’s Cadillac Square to brightly, and fittingly, launch the Jewish holiday.
The public is invited at 5PM Thurs., Dec. 10, to Webster at Jackson Ave. near the Santa House for the lighting that will be followed by music and Chanukah songs inside City Hall, 400 S. Eagle Street. The event will include musical celebrations and a date night scavenger hunt. “We don’t fight darkness with darkness – we fight darkness with light”. Hanukkah commemorates an oil-based miracle, which is celebrated by preparing and serving foods fried in oil.
“Now people grow up expecting and embracing and being familiar with more diversity”, Gorelik said. At 5, the parade will depart the chabad at 15 Campwoods Road, Ossining before concluding with a grand public menorah lighting at Pocket Park on Pleasantville Road in Briarcliff Manor at 5:30.
The event is open to the public, 3-6 p.m. December 6, at the Crowne Plaza Expo Center, 1 Resort Drive.
In launching the Chanukah campaign at Kennesaw State, Rabbi Zalman Charytan, of the Chabad Center, said, “Many students who are away from home during the holiday season experience a sense of isolation”. Music and other entertainment at the event are free, but there is a nominal fee for food and other attractions. Visit rodefsholomtemple.org for more information.
Advertisement
Weekend includes a dinner 6 p.m. Friday that fuses Chef Michael Twitty’s African-American and Jewish heritage.
