ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—The City of Englewood held its annual Chanukah celebration on Dec. 22, and hundreds of families came to watch the tradition of lighting the Menorah in front of City Hall. This year’s Menorah was composed of dozens of colored balloons, adding a festive element to the dramatic backdrop of the Chanukah story.
This year’s Chanukah commemoration was a spectacular community-wide celebration hosted by the Chabad of Englewood under the leadership of Rabbi Shmuel Konikov.
“It is a holiday that enriches our lives with the light of tradition,” said Rabbi Konikov. In ancient times our ancestors rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem with the Menorah. Today, we rededicate ourselves to making this world a better and brighter place.”
Chanukah, also called the Festival of Lights, is a Jewish holiday of great historical significance. It commemorates the rededication of Jerusalem’s Holy Temple, which was reclaimed by a small group of Jews called the Maccabees from the much more powerful Syrian Greek Army of King Antiochus IV of Syria in 164 BC (“Chanukah means “rededication” in Hebrew).
The ancient story relates that after the Maccabees took back the temple, they found only enough oil there to light the temple for one night. Yet, miraculously, the oil kept the temple lit for eight nights in a row. Since then, Jews have commemorated this miracle by lighting a single candle on the Menorah on the first night of Chanukah, then two on the second night, and so on, until all eight candles symbolizing the eight nights in the temple are ablaze by the end of the holiday. The ninth candle called the “shamis” is used to light the others.
Englewood’s grand Chanukah celebration began at 6 p.m. at City Hall with a performance of Christmas and Chanukah songs by students of The Performing Arts School at bergenPAC led by Glen Gordon and Amelia DeMayo.
Several community leaders attended the festivities, including Englewood Chamber of Commerce President Carol Rauscher, Council President Katharine Glynn, Council members Charles Cobb, Cheryl Rosenberg and Michael Cohen, Police Chief Lawrence Suffern and Deputy Chief Gregory Halstead.
In addition to the giant balloon Menorah, a stilt walker delighted children with balloon twisting creations.
When everyone was assembled, inspiring speeches were given by Konikov of the Chabad of Englewood and Rabbi Chaim Poupko of Congregation Ahavath Torah. Mayor Michael Wildes, who was out of town that evening, delivered a pre-recorded message.
“I want to wish everyone a Happy Chanukah,” Wildes said. Englewood is the city of trees, and we are deeply rooted in many fundamentals. I am so proud to be mayor of this city where so many diverse communities can come together. May the light that you light tonight shine on each of your families!”
Both Konikov and Poupko emphasized that Chanukah is about how lighting one candle can illuminate an entire room of darkness. Konikov referenced the recent anti-Semitic act of violence in Jersey City, in which shooters opened fire on a kosher supermarket.
“Our answer to those type of things is by doing an act of goodness and kindness,” he said.
He urged everyone to take upon themselves an act of kindness.
“Like the one candle in the dark, one good deed can make a world of good around us,” the rabbi said.
Poupko added another interpretation to the Menorah lighting tradition.
“If you see someone who cannot afford candles and you share your candles with them, you have fulfilled the Mitzvah (good deed) of beautifying the candles. So, instead of beautifying through the number of candles, you beautify by the number of people and allow them to spread their own light and connect with God and their community,” he explained.
Following Poupko’s remarks, two candles on the balloon Menorah were lit.
A highlight of the evening was the “Great Chanukah Gelt Drop,” during which a fire truck shot out hundreds of gold foil coins containing chocolate, or “gelt,” in Jewish tradition. Dozens of youngsters squealed with delight as they
scrambled to grab up handfuls of the delicious loot.
Following the kindling, the Festival of Light continued with music, hot potato latkes, jelly and chocolate cream donuts from Hummus Elite and Starbucks coffee. Children were also given light-up necklaces donated by New Jersey Eye and Ear and spun their own cones of cotton candy from a large machine.
The evening continued with joyous laughter and lively dancing by a group of rabbis from the Chabad of Englewood and visiting rabbinical proteges from Morristown.
Sponsors of Englewood’s Chanukah event were the City of Englewood, Englewood SID, NJ Eye & Ear, Starbucks and Hummus Elite.
Chanukah around the world
Once a relatively minor celebration on the Jewish calendar, Chanukah became more widely honored in the 20th century, with Menorahs lit in Jewish homes and lighting ceremonies in many cities and towns across the globe, from Australia to Africa, from Columbia to Hong Kong, from New York City’s ground zero to the White House lawn.
Like most holidays, the week involves special foods, prayers, traditional songs, and games with a four-sided top known as a dreidel; in recent decades, the practice of exchanging small gifts each night has also caught on.
Chanukah is observed in a variety of ways, with different cultures putting their own unique spin on things.
Stories of Jewish survival, hope and faith are a significant part of Jewish history, from the Exodus under Pharaoh told in the Haggadah on Passover, to Megillah which tells the Purim Story of Persian Jewish liberation, but Chanukah is, in its own right, a powerful metaphor for Judaism itself.
As Chanukah is celebrated today, Jews are still fighting for their survival nearly everywhere in the world and continue to be the target of anti-Semitism and hate. The recent shootings at a kosher market in Jersey City and at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh last year are just two such examples.
But, but as survivors, the Jewish community continues to celebrate and acknowledge the light that it brings in to the world by passing on the story and traditions of Chanukah to the next generation.
That story is universal and resonates with people of all faiths—Chanukah is both a chronicle of survival and faith and a celebration of the triumph of light over darkness.
