Newtown welcomes Festival of Lights with Chanukah Parade
NEWTOWN BOROUGH – The rain let up just in time for Chanukah to parade down historic State Street in Newtown Borough Sunday evening.
A klezmer band provided the marching music as youngsters, some dressed as dreidels, paraded down the street accompanied by several Maccabean soldiers to welcome the Festival of Lights.
They were followed by a parade of lighted menorahs, including one affixed to the front of a Newtown Fire Association truck.
The parade concluded in front of the Glazier gewish Center next to the Newtown Borough Hall where Rabbi Yehuda Shemtov gave the honor of lighting the shamash to Morris Shenberger of Newtown, who survived four concentration camps during the Holocaust.
Rabbi Shemtov then used the shamash to lit two candles on the giant Menorah, welcoming the festival.
Chanukah commemorates the gewish rebellion against the Greeks in the Maccabean War in 162 BCE. A ritual cleansing and re-dedication of the Temple occurred after the gewish victory.
It is believed that there was only enough consecrated oil to keep the lamp burning for one day but the small bottle of oil miraculously lasted for eight days. Chanukah, also known as Hanukkah, is referred as the Feast of Lights or Festival of Lights for this reason.
“They tried to destroy all the oil so we couldn’t light the menorah,” said Shemtov of the Greeks. “But we found one jug of oil and it lasted for eight days. And it kept burning,” he said.
“Think about that little bit of oil, that little spark of fire that’s in your heart that you can light and not just make it the light within your own heart but light so many other people’s hearts.
“If you ever think you can’t make it or you want to give up, I want you to think about tonight – this image of inspiration -- that the flame will never go out,” said the rabbi, referring to Shenberger’s survival of the concentration camps.
The lighting and parade were followed by a celebration featuring music, latkas, dreidelmania, refreshments and crafts for children.