Chanukah Celebrated in Sydney

On Thursday, the 6th night of Chanukah, a number of celebrations were held in Sydney, hosted by Chabad Youth NSW together with the Yeshiva Centre – Chabad NSW HQ and CBD Chabad.

At 4:30pm vehicles of all shapes and sizes met at the Lighthouse in Vaucluse, to start the Parade that would take them to Martin Place, the centre of Sydney’s Central Business District for the giant Menorah lighting.

The Menorah standing 10 metres high is a sight to behold; seen by thousands every day, it has great meaning on many levels. Reminding everyone it is Chanukah, symbolizing tolerance and justice, shining its light throughout the city and beyond with a message of growth: Yesterday’s achievements were good, but today we must grow further, we must spread more light, more love and kindness as indicated by the lights of the menorah, each night another candle is lit making the world brighter and brighter.

At Martin Place, the event was chaired by Rabbi Elimelech Levy, Director of Chabad Youth NSW. He spoke of the importance of the occasion and why so many resources had been used to organize this special event. He explained that the foundation of the event was education. Chanukah teaches us that we must stand up for what’s right, to stand strong in our beliefs and not to be deterred or distracted by the challenges that life sets before us.

The crowd heard messages from Rabbi Pinchus Feldman, Head Shliach of NSW and dean and spiritual leader of the Yeshiva Centre Chabad NSW HQ as well as John Robertson MP – Leader of the opposition, Jonathan O’dea MP, Alex Greenwich MP, David Clarke MLC and Walt Secord MLC.

All gave over warm greetings and messages of support for the Jewish community and for Israel.

There was a BBQ, free doughnuts, jumping castle, face painting, and bungee jumping for the kids.

Hundreds of people received candles for Shabbat, Menorahs and guides for Chanukah, information on Judaism and put on Tefilin throughout the event, distributed by the students of the Yeshiva College and Rabbinical Academy.

The giant Menorah was lit by Jason Adler and Rabbi Elimelech Levy.

The night concluded with an amazing show by Johnny Balance, and departure gift bags were given out. A raffle for a SONY Playstation VITA – sponsored by Sony computer entertainment Australia was drawn, the winner was Ari Shapiro.

A big thank you to our partners in this event, Rabi Dovid Sebban and Netanel Moshel of CBD Chabad.