LET THERE BE LIGHT
Community celebrates first night of Hanukkah
LANSDALE >> The Horns of Hanukkah ushered in the first night of Hanukkah with residents at Lansdale’s annual menorah lighting ceremony in Railroad Plaza on Sunday, Dec. 2. The ensemble performed holiday favorites such as “I Have a Little Dreidel,” “Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah” and “Rock of the Ages.”
“The lighting of the Hanukkah lights start in the evening, but we wait until dark. That means that the lights we light are at its darkest and we want to just show that this is hope and light,” said Alan Gold, founder and organizer of the event and member of Congregation Tiferes B’Nai Israel (TBI) in Warrington.
A minor holiday on the Jewish calendar, Hanukkah celebrates an ancient miracle in Hebrew lore. In 165 B.C., the Jewish people, under Syrian oppression, revolted.
“The Maccabees defeated the Syrian Greeks who wanted to wipe out the Jews, but against overwhelming odds the Maccabees defeated the Greeks, the Helens. And so they came back to the temple and it was destroyed ex-
cept there was a little oil, just enough for one day and they lit it and it lasted eight days,” Gold explained to the crowd.
Gold says that even though Hanukkah has no religious significance, it has a lot of significance in today’s world because it gives hope to people, something many rabbis and faith leaders agree is especially significant following the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh this past October.
During a time where anti-Semitic incidents are at an all-time high, according to both the FBI and Jewish advocacy groups, the Hanukkah season has become a time to reflect more than ever on what it means to be Jewish.
“Now it’s not a big miracle, especially if you look at the New Testament, but we look at it as an allegory.
What the story is really about is that the Jews survived.”
Gold and his co-founder, Ellen Price Malloy, have been leading the menorah candle lighting ceremony for about 25 years, since former Lansdale Mayor Mike DiNunzio approached Gold with the idea.
Only two lights were lit on the electric menorah in Railroad Plaza, on Sunday
night, which is the result of a $50,000 donation by a Jewish philanthropist.
“We take no money from the borough or the county because I believe strongly in the separation between religion and government, so this is privately funded,” said Gold.
Each night, another candle will be lit until the eighth and final night of the holiday.