By Cheryl Makin – MyCentralJersey.com
MONROE – For the 14th consecutive year, the state’s largest Menorah was lit Sunday at the corner of Perrinevlle and Prospect Plains roads.
Also called a Hanukkiah, the menorah is the nine-branched candelabra used to welcome each night of the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah. This year, Chabad Jewish Center of Monroe welcomed the beginning of Hanukkah at 3:30 p.m. Sunday with the annual lighting of the giant menorah. The holiday begins at sundown Sunday and runs through sundown, Dec. 14.
The Menorah was lit by Rep. Dan Benson, D-14th District, and local business owner Tal Kalif. Benson, Councilman Michael Leibowitz of Monroe and Sen. Linda Greenstein, D-14th District, also shared holiday greetings with the crowd.
The first candle was lit in memory of Kalif’s three-month-old son who recently died.
“This Menorah is the ultimate display of joy and unity,” said Rabbi Eliezer Zaklikovsky, director of Chabad Jewish Center of Monroe, who is erecting the Menorah. “The holiday of Chanukah is a festival of a historic victory and celebration for all times, highlighted by the kindling of Menorahs each night of the holiday. Yet it also contains a universal message for people of all faiths — that ultimately, good will triumph over evil, freedom over oppression, and light over darkness.”
The event included music, educational crafts and gifts for the children, Hanukkah cookies and fun for everyone. The Odessa Klezmer Band also was on hand for the celebration and the Chabad Hebrew School Choir sang “Oh Hanukkah” and “I Have A Little Dreidel.” Cantor Zev Guttman of Philadelphia sang and led the prayers for blessing the candles on the first night of Hanukkah.
Dreidel Man also was on hand to delight the crowd of about 200. Portrayed by Tzemach Bassman of Morristown, he was happy to take photos and selfies with the attendees.
Representing all the children present and those who are “children at heart,” Zaklikovsky’s 9-year-old daughter Rikki read her essay “What Hanukkah Means To Me.”
Chabad, with more than 3,000 offices and establishments around the globe, in 49 states and 85 countries, is the largest network of Jewish religious and social services in the world. There are currently more than 1,000 public Menorahs expected to be lit by Chabad this Hanukkah around the world.
Chabad also sponsors the “National Menorah” standing in front of the White House, and “The Largest Menorah in the World” (32 feet high) which stands in New York City’s famed Rockefeller Center.
The Monroe Community Menorah is an exact replica of the “National Menorah” at the White House. The reason we chose to build a replica, explains Rabbi Zaklikovsky, is “being that the park where the Monroe Menorah stands has major significance, as it is the sight where the battle of Monmouth began, ultimately resulting in the establishment of our nation and its values of freedom, which the holiday of Hanukkah so commonly shares”.
Known as the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah commemorates the victory of the ancient Israelites over the Syrian Greek army, and the subsequent miracle of restoring the menorah in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
The miracle of Hanukkah is that only one vial of oil was found with just enough oil for one day, and yet it lasted for eight full days.
Hanukkah is typically celebrated at home by lighting the menorah (each night we light one additional candle to the number from the previous night), playing dreidel, and eating special foods unique to Hanukkah, such as potato pancakes or latkes and jelly donuts or sufganiyot. Many Hanukkah foods are deep-fried in oil, symbolizing the oil from the menorah used in the Temple.
Some people also sing Hanukkah songs or exchange gifts after lighting the menorah
so proud
really beautiful
from strength to strength