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Festival of Lights
Written By: Mary Jane McCall | Issue: December 2024 | Photograph By: Susan Renfro
Everyone – everyone – is invited to the lighting of the first candle of the Menorah at Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park in Highlands on the first evening of Hanukkah, December 25.
Hanukkah is an eight-day winter Festival of Lights, celebrating the ancient Jewish peoples’ reclamation of their temple in Jerusalem after occupation by the Syrian Greek empire, and to mark the triumph of light over darkness.
One candle of a giant menorah will be lit on the first night of Hanukkah on December 25 at 5:30 P.M. in Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park. An additional candle will be lit each successive night until the eighth night when the Menorah is fully illuminated.
It’s a celebration of the miracle of the burning oil. When Jewish Maccabees reclaimed their occupied temple they found only a tiny bit of oil, barely enough to burn their candles for one day but the oil miraculously lasted for eight days – a Hanukkah miracle. The first candle lit represents the first oil found, and the subsequent candles the eight days the oil burned.
Falling on a different date every year, usually from late November until mid-December, this year it begins on December 25 and ends at sundown on January 2.
Joining your Jewish neighbors on the first night of Hanukkah might be a reflective way to end your Christmas day celebrations.
Why not plan to follow it up with a meal of traditional Jewish foods? Potato latkes, brisket, and olive oil cake sounds like a welcome departure from the day’s earlier turkey and trimmings.
