Record Turnouts Expected at Public Menorah-Lightings Worldwide

Record crowds are expected at public menorah-lightings this year following calls for increased participation everywhere as a sign of Jewish solidarity following the mass shooting by a gunman that left 11 Jewish worshippers dead in Pittsburgh, in addition to other attacks against Jews in Israel and around the world.

Chabad-Lubavitch will reach an estimated 8 million Jews during the eight days of Chanukah, which begins on Sunday night, Dec. 2, and continues through Monday night, Dec. 10, with 700,000-plus menorahs and 2.5 million holiday guides in 17 languages being distributed, as well as 15,000 large public menorahs on display. Chabad emissaries will lead Chanukah celebrations in Reykjavik, Montenegro and Kampala, along with more than 1,000 Chabad-Lubavitch centers in all 50 United States, thousands more in 100 countries across the globe, and 264 centers on university campuses worldwide.

Large menorahs will be on display in front of iconic landmarks, including the White House, the Eiffel Tower, the Brandenburg Gate and the Kremlin, with record crowds expected to take part in lightings around the world in the face of mounting anti-Semitism. Significantly, some of them will be in Pittsburgh, Pa., where the Jewish community was rocked in late October when a gunman opened fire on worshippers at the Tree of Life congregation.

“It’s an important time to bring light to Pittsburgh and to gather in numbers to celebrate,” says Rabbi Yisroel Altein, co-director of the Chabad of Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh. “We are in a very dark place, and everyone is looking forward to the candles of Chanukah to bring some illumination and light into our lives now.”

Chabad will host menorah-lightings in Squirrel Hill and before the Steelers football game at Heinz Field on Sunday, and at the City-County Building with the mayor on Thursday night. The main event will be the third night of Chanukah, Dec. 4, where a car-menorah parade of about 100 cars, will go through the neighborhoods and city, ending at a festival at a local outdoor mall. Several thousand are expected to attend the celebration, which includes a concert by rapper Nissim Black.

“We are expecting more people than usual; we feel that in the community, in light of what happened, people are looking to move with the positive energy of celebration of Chanukah,” says Altein. “They want to be involved in a positive, exciting Jewish moment.”

There are a number of examples and situations of darkness in the world, says Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus, director of the Chabad of South Broward in Hallandale, Fla. He’s expecting record crowds this year of 10,000 to 15,000 to attend Chanukah gatherings to help spread the message of the holiday, which represents light over darkness, freedom over oppression, and freedom over terror, he says. “Perhaps this year—more than any other year—this message will be celebrated and appreciated by larger crowds of men, women and children than ever before."

Rabbi Avi Feldman and his wife, Mushky, will host Iceland's first-ever public menorah lighting rin Reykjavík. Feldman is the first permanent rabbi in Iceland’s history. (File photo)

Chabad will welcome dignitaries and elected officials to its Chanukah celebration at Gulfstream Park & Casino on Monday, Dee. 3, which will include a concert by Chassidic singer Avraham Fried and the popular group 8th Day. They will light Florida’s largest menorah and distribute dollar bills, chocolate gelt and other goodies to several thousand children coming with their families. “We expect it to be bigger and better,” Tennenhaus says of the event. “We’re activists, not reactionaries, so we try to do what’s right, and certainly, when there’s a bit more tension in the air, we will respond with more light.”

45 Years Since Launch of Worldwide Campaign

The initiative to encourage and sponsor public lightings began 45 years ago, in 1973, when the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—launched the worldwide campaign in an effort to create awareness of Hanukkah and promote its observance. (Read the Rebbe’s letter about public menorah-lightings.)

In New York City, the world’s largest menorah, standing 36 feet high (the lights are 32 feet high, the most permissible by Jewish law, with the center light reaching an additional 4 feet), stands at Grand Army Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, across from the Plaza Hotel and Central Park, where crowds gather nightly for the public lightings led by a list of dignitaries. The menorah-lighting, which began in 1977, is celebrating its 41st consecutive year of casting a luminous glow on the streets of New York City.

The world’s largest menorah, standing 36 feet high (the lights are 32 feet high, the most permissible by Jewish law, with the center light reaching an additional 4 feet), stands at Grand Army Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, across from the Plaza Hotel and Central Park, where crowds will gather nightly for the public lightings led by a list of dignitaries. (File Photo: Chaim Perl/Chabad.org)

As part of a multimedia exploration of Jews in Space, a launch party will be held in the Brooklyn Children’s Museum for Brooklyn-based artist Nitzan Bartov’s original art exploring the theme of Jewish life on Mars. The program, organized by Chabad-Lubavitch’s TechTribe, will also feature an augmented-reality menorah.

In Texas, Chabad of Frisco will celebrate its fifth annual public menorah-lighting and Chanukah celebration starting at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 in Simpson Plaza across from the City Hall.

Rabbi Mendy Kesselman said the community-wide event has been a hit since day one and has grown every year since.

“Interestingly enough, the first year that we did it, many more people came than we thought would,” he said. “It’s become a part of the holiday celebration, and it’s kind of solidified and made its way up the community calendar as something people are looking forward to every year.”

The main event of the evening includes lighting a giant, 8-foot-tall menorah and a few words from Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney. This year, Kesselman will make a special dedication to the 11 Jewish victims of the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh.

“We’ll mention their names, and dedicate the lighting and public display of Jewish pride in their honor and in their memory,” he says. “More than focusing on the tragedy, [we will be] encouraging everybody to be a light, be a candle. That’s the way we do it with these kinds of things—we try and be a menorah, we try and be a candelabra, we try to spread light.”

Chanukah begins this year on the night of Sunday, Dec. 2, and continues through Monday, Dec. 10. For information, insights and events at Chabad centers around the world, visit: Chabad.org Chanukah.