It is the brightest time of the year!
Locals celebrated the first night of Hanukkah at the Kings Plaza Shopping Center on Dec. 16. Kids and adults kicked off the eight-day holiday — known as the Festival of Lights — by lighting the menorah that symbolizes lamp oil that miraculously lasted an extra week, according to the local rabbi who led the celebration.
“That is what the menorah symbolizes — to bring light everywhere and to chase away the darkness with light,” said Rabbi Yehuda Friedman of the Chabad House of Mill Basin.
The shopping center’s celebration included cutout characters of Hanukkah heroes, including Judah the Maccabee, who led a revolt more than 2,000 years ago to restore Jewish worship at the Temple in Jerusalem — and Friedman said today’s celebrations are still about remembering the fight for religious rights while religious residents wait for their ultimate light.
“The menorah lighting was in the first night of Hanukkah — the light of Hanukkah symbolized the freedom of religion,” he said. “Everybody should add the light, and the moshaich [messiah] will be here soon and the holy Temple will be built soon in Jerusalem.”
But ultimately, Friedman said, the holiday is a reminder to make the world better so the next generation — and their children’s children — can thrive.
“We’re making this world to be a better place today with each other,” said Friedman. “If there are no children, there are no adults.”
