Drake Berner's face shines in the lights of personal Hanukkah menorahs lit in 2011 at Temple B'nai Sholom in Huntsville. This year, on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012, Temple B'nai Sholom Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar and other religious and city leaders will light a community hanukkiya in Big Spring Park, with a second community lighting Sunday, 5 p.m., at Bridge Street. (Bob Gathany / bgathany@al.com)
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Members of the community will join with Jews around the world in welcoming the beginning of Hanukkah by lighting a public menorah in Huntsville's Big Spring Park on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012, at 7 p.m.
The lighting ceremony will include local Jewish leaders, including Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar of Temple B'nai Sholom, and city officials, including Mayor Tommy Battle. The menorah will be erected near the gazebo in the park, where the Tinsel Trail of community Christmas trees invites holiday wandering.
Rabbi Laibel Berkowitz lights three lights of the Menorah during a Hanukkah celebration at the Westin Hotel at Bridge Street in 2011 in Huntsville, Ala. The lighting at Bridge Street this year will be Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012, beginning with games for children at 4:30 p.m. and the lighting at 5 p.m. (Eric Schultz / eschultz@al.com)
The community’s other public menorah will be lit for the third year at Bridge Street on Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012, at 5 p.m.
Organized by Orthodox Rabbi Laibel Berkowitz and his wife, Chanie, the event begins at 4:30 p.m. with activities for families, pavement performers and the spinning of dreidels in the traditional gambling game that dates from the days of the Maccabees.
Hanukkah is an eight-day holiday that begins at sundown on the 25th of the Hebrew month of Kislev. It commemorates the victory of the Maccabees in Jerusalem over the occupying forces of Antiochus IV about 2300 years ago. The Jewish soldiers were able to cleanse the temple of pagan objects and re-dedicate it.
The main story is found in the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees, which is included in the biblical Apocrypha. The dab of holy oil the soldiers found, only enough for one day for the temple’s seven-armed menorah, continued, miraculously, to burn for eight days -- until new oil could be pressed and blessed for use in the temple. That’s why the menorah used at Hanukkah, called hanukkiya, has eight arms, plus an arm to hold the shamash, servant, candle used for lighting the candles each night.
Hanukkah, primarily a holiday observed at home, is a joyful time of enjoying fried latkes and donuts, exchanging gifts, and enjoying music and the memory of a time when Jews prevailed over people trying to prevent them from worshiping according to their faith – making it perhaps the only holiday to celebrate freedom of religion.