Menorah lighting returns Sunday to The Marketplace

The Chabad Jewish Community Center and The Marketplace invite the community to celebrate the fourth night of Hanukkah.

This annual grand Hanukkah celebration returns Sunday to the shopping center.

Hanukkah, a celebration for all time, is highlighted by the lighting of the menorah each night of the holiday.

“It is a holiday that enriches our lives with the light of tradition,” said Rabbi Shmuli Schlanger, director of the Chabad Jewish Community Center, said in a news release. “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.”

Hanukkah also propagates the universal message that ultimately good will prevail over evil, freedom over oppression and light over darkness.

The communitywide celebration is meant to offer the warmth, joy, strength and inspiration that the Hanukkah lights are meant to represent.

Along with the public menorah lighting ceremony, the program will feature Hanukkah driedels and treats, live music, and delicious sufganiyot (Hanukkah doughnuts).

In its Hanukkah outreach campaign, Chabad of Bakersfield joins thousands of Chabad centers across the globe that are staging similar public displays of the menorah and its symbolic lights. From Australia to Africa, Columbia to Hong Kong, to the White House lawn, hundreds of thousands will experience the joy of the holiday with Chabad.

The event starts at 5 p.m. Sunday at The Marketplace, 9000 Ming Ave.

For more information, contact Chabad of Bakersfield at 661-834-1512.

ROD THORNBURG / FOR THE CALIFORNIAN, FILE Mayor Karen Goh speaks to the crowd, including Rabbi Shmuel Schlanger and Mia Odlia, before lighting the menorah during the first night of Hanukkah at The Marketplace last year. The lighting returns on Sunday.