Let there be light!

Menorah marks Hanukkah for Jewish Arkansans

With Thanksgiving past and the days growing ever shorter, members of Arkansas’ Jewish community are in the midst of their annual Hanukkah celebrations.

The public festivities have attracted Orthodox, Reform and Conservative Jews, plus a large number of their non-Jewish friends and neighbors.

Standing beside Lubavitch of Arkansas Rabbi Pinchus Ciment, Gov. Asa Hutchinson lit a large menorah with a small blow torch shortly after sundown on Sunday in west Little Rock, marking the first day of the eight-day festival of lights.

Since then, an additional light has been lit each evening.

The menorah, at the corner of Chenal Parkway and Bowman Road, is widely considered to be the state’s largest.

The Little Rock public celebration, complete with joyful music and fried potato fritters, known as latkes, dates to the early 1990s, organizers say.

Harry Ehrenberg is a regular participant.

“I don’t know if I’ll do it every night, but I’ll be here most nights,” the Little Rock man said. “The menorah lighting is just a part of our life.”

Similar displays have also been set up along Central Avenue in Hot Springs and near Lawrence Plaza in downtown Bentonville.

The eight-day Festival of Lights, commemorating the re-dedication of the second temple in Jerusalem following the Maccabean Revolt, began at sundown Sunday and concludes Monday evening when the final candles or lamps will have been lit.

Since taking office in January 2015, Hutchinson, a Baptist, has attended the Little Rock menorah-lighting ceremony each year, he said before setting the first light ablaze.

The crowd included a host of political leaders, Hutchinson noted. Among them were U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, Mayor Frank Scott and others.

“We value the Jewish community in Arkansas and the fact that I’ve been here for seven years reflects my commitment to partnering with you [and] to recognizing the incredible contributions that you make to our state and nation and our bond of faith,” he said.

Covid-19 did not derail last year’s celebration. But the outlook, 12 months later, is brighter, Hutchinson said.

“One year ago, we were looking into the difficulties of winter without any vaccination, with the covid still running rampant,” he said. “Today we have a vaccine through medical science and God’s grace.”

While our own country has been blessed with a robust vaccination supply, “we need to share our largesse here in the United States and help other countries that are struggling with the coronavirus still,” Hutchinson added.

In an interview, Ciment said Hutchinson’s involvement is appreciated.

“It means something special to the Jewish community that doesn’t represent a large percentile of the … citizens of the state,” he said. “They’re really respectful for him taking the time. They don’t take it for granted.”

Though the Jewish community has deep roots in Arkansas, it is relatively small. Less than 1% of Arkansans identified as Jewish in the 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study, which was funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

In addition to the menorah lighting, Lubavitch of Arkansas also plans to hold a Hanukkah parade this Sunday, with a caravan of cars driving from the west Little Rock Menorah, past senior citizens’ residences and Arkansas Children’s Hospital to the Clinton Presidential Center.

Hanukkah celebrations are also on tap Sunday at Congregation B’nai Israel and Congregation Agudath Achim, both in Little Rock, as well as Temple Shalom in Fayetteville.

The celebration at B’nai Israel will include a magic show and will be outdoors, so that children can participate, regardless of vaccination status, Rabbi Barry Block said.

More information on all the events is available at jewisharkansas.org/chanukah

(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Frank E. Lockwood) Six-year-old Mendel Kramer and his brother, 5-year-old Binyamin Kramer, joined Rabbi Pinchus Ciment on the lift Sunday after it had been used to reach the top of a menorah in west Little Rock. The golden glow of the first lighted lamp is visible just above the orange bar on the right. Nov. 28 was the first day of Hanukkah.

U.S. Rep. French Hill (left) and Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin posed for photos Sunday with members of the audience prior to the lighting of a Little Rock menorah on the first day of Hanukkah. The menorah, located at the corner of Chenal Parkway and Bowman Road, is billed as the state’s largest and is visible over Griffin’s shoulder.