The 14th annual Menorah Lighting Ceremony was held Wednesday, the fourth night of Chanukah, at the Wyoming State Capitol hosted by Gov. Mark Gordon.
Shliach Rabbi Zalman Mendelsohn emphasized the need for each and every person to be a shining light in the world.
A crowd filled a wing of the Capitol with people from around Wyoming, as well as food, music and a giant menorah.
Rabbi Mendelsohn presented a metal sculpture of a menorah to Gov. Gordon, thanking him and first lady Jennie Gordon for embodying the “commonality that exists within each and every one of us.”
“There’s so many different paths, so many different lifestyles and so many different political viewpoints,” Rabbi Mendelsohn said in his speech. “There’s a solid gold that brings us all together, with love, with humanity, with character and with a sense that we are all part of the same people of Wyoming.”
Rabbi Mendelsohn then invited Gov. Gordon and first lady Gordon to the podium to light the ninth candle of the menorah, which sits high in the middle, symbolically known as the candle that lights the rest.
Assisting Chabad of Wyoming to bring Chanukah to residents throughout the state are Bochurim Lazer Oberlander from Budapest, Hungary, and Yisrael Dick from Morristown, New Jersey.
