Menorah at Calgary City Hall

Chabad Lubavitch of Alberta celebrated its 26th Community Menorah Lighting with live broadcasts on TV and over the Internet and with a dedicated webpage www.menorah.ca.

The Calgary Community Menorah Lighting has become one of the most important and popular Jewish events in the Calgary Jewish Community. The event is attended annually by politicians from all levels of government, as well as many leaders of most Jewish community organizations, and other non-Jewish Organizations as well.

Rabbi Menachem and Rochel Matusof and community are grateful to Mr. Harold Finkleman who was the co-founder of this highly successful public event which is held at City Hall.

For twenty five years now, the entire one-hour program, has been televised live on a local community channel, Shaw Channel 10. For the past 12 years, it has also been streamed live over the Internet.

This year, the program has been rebroadcast on Shaw’s Channel 10, five times throughout Chanukah, and is now also available on www.jewish.tv or www.menorah.ca for viewing.

The popularity and scale of this event, has led to the Prime Minister of Canada, and the Head Shluchim of Canada coming to Calgary six years ago to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of this unique lighting ceremony.

This event, held on the first night of Chanukah attracted about six hundred people who attended in person, plus thousands more who watched on television and the internet. 1200 warm Latkes (prepared by dedicated volunteers at the local Chabad House) were served, and about three hundred beautiful cards each containing Chanukah Gelt, a Chanukah cookie and candy were distributed to all the children in attendance.

180 miles north of Calgary, in the provincial capital of Edmonton, under the leadership of Rabbi Ari and Mrs. Drelich, about 300 people attended the lighting of the largest Menorah in Alberta which is on display at Legislature Building,

This brings the total to about a thousand people attending Public Menorah Lightings in Alberta, plus the many viewers on TV and the Internet.

This Menorah for the Calgary City Hall ceremony was built especially to fit the design of the atrium of city hall. In Calgary and Edmonton there are close to 20 Menorahs on display in public places, including Alberta Hospitals.

Rabbi Menachem Matusof in his remarks, shared the Rebbe’s message, encouraging each one of us to perform the Chanukah miracle in our own individual lives and go ‘One Step Beyond our comfort zone’ including the adding of one act of Goodness and Kindness, as a way of preparing for the ultimate miracle of Moshiach.

Rabbi Matusof expresses his thanks and appreciation to our good friends at Shaw TV, to the dedicated staff of Chabad.org and Jewish.TV as well as to Rabbi Dovid Altein of Creative Solutions (www.creativesls.com) for making this the success it is.

Visit Jewish.TV for more Jewish videos.