New York – Menorah lightings to mark the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah are planned near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Ellipse in Washington D.C. and in many other cities around the world.
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In London, a menorah lighting is scheduled for Dec. 10, at 6 p.m. in Trafalgar Square. In Paris, a lighting planned for Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. will include a concert with live Jewish music and a live video link to menorah lightings in New York and Jerusalem at the Western Wall. In Berlin, the menorah lighting will take place Dec. 9, at 6:30 p.m.
In New York, a “Hanukkah on ice” event is planned for Dec. 10, 6 p.m.-9 p.m., with a concert and skating party at the rink in Central Park just north of the 59th Street entrance. At 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, a giant menorah carved from blocks of ice will be lit Dec. 11, at 6 p.m.
In Washington, the National Menorah Lighting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Dec. 9 at the Ellipse near the White House, with performances by the U.S. Navy Band and a musical group called The Three Cantors.
In Miami, the Miami Heat host a Jewish heritage night at the basketball team’s Dec. 12 game at American Airlines Arena. A menorah will be lit at half-time and a Hanukkah party will be held on the court after the game.
Numerous other events, all sponsored by the Chabad Lubavitch outreach organization, are scheduled at locations around the world, from U.S. college campuses to city centers large and small including outposts in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The events are free and family oriented, and all are welcome. Many of the lightings include live music and children’s activities. For a searchable directory of events, visit http://www.hanukkah.org .
The eight-day Jewish holiday begins at sundown Dec. 8. The public menorahs will be lit each night, but the exact timing varies due to observances of the Jewish Sabbath on Friday and Saturday nights and in order to accommodate the schedules of dignitaries attending some of the bigger events.
Kol hakavod chabad!
This is real Pirsumei nisa!
But will their candles be from the same People’s Republic of China that Rokeach us buying from these days?
Agree 100% with #3 comment, it also may be a “Brucha L’Vatalu”
With great menorahs comes great applesauce and latkes. I am not a big fan of the super sized menorahs, but they appear to be here to stay!
I’m really amazed at the comments from some individuals, who abhor the public lighting of Menorahs. Did you not read the article, that there will be a public lighting of the Menorah, in Berlin, Germany! Too bad Hitler (y’mach shimo), couldn’t have been around to have seen that. It shows that he failed to wipe us off this planet, and we are still around, in spite of genocides, pogroms, and inquisitions. I have no problem with menorah lightings in other cities. More often than not, it is not the goyim who are against the public displays of Menorahs, but the Yidden who have the mentality that “we should not be seen or heard”. Years ago, in a small town in Montana (a state where there are very few Yidden), a rock was thrown threw the window, of a Jewish home displaying a Menorah on Chanukah. In protest, the entire town (including American Indians), placed Menorahs in their windows, against the bigots, who soon got the message.
Kudos to chabad for their holy work, they are the unsung heroes of this generation.
Last year, I was in the car, driving, and my kids saw one of their large Menorahs, and were delighted and yelled, look, look at Menorah, a menorah! Everywhere we go, we are accosted by the symbols of the season, which is so beautiful and ornamental. It is hard for our kids to deal with this. The menorahs are not for the Haredim, they are for the rest of us Jews who live in the secular world and love the open and proud Jewishness that the Chabad people bring wherever they go.
They do good work. Thanks, Chabad.
And to those “grobeh Am horatzim” who know no makor for this. I ask what is the mokor for lighting menorahs in a shul? And what about the halocho of “haroeh ner chanuka” one who sees chanukah lights makes a certain brocho.
In centuries past, Jews were grateful to be allowed to practice Judais in their own homes, especially this time of year, nowadays, we have freedoms we never dreamed of, the problem Of most negative posters here has always been they live in enclaves of USA that are completely frum, ie Boro park, monsy, lakewood, flatbush, go out into places like california, Oregon, seattle, rio de janeiro, Lyons France, perth Australia, Buenos Aires etc. Places where there is still overt anti semitism and it isn’t so simple to be a yid and then you will realize the jewish pride,identity and gadlus these menorahs engender.
In My kehilla, there is an entire family, who became frum, whose kids went to day school, yeshiva etc only because of a Public Menorah lighting the stories are endless.
Go out of your confined areas and see that there is a world out there
Thankfully, Chabad does not care about the naysayers, who do not give a D-mn for other Jews, only themselves.
These so called “holy people” who are denigrating chabad on this forum, only denigrate themselves, because they are showing who they really are: contemptuous, arrogant, self-serving people who do not care one whit about other Jews, and if that were not enough, criticize the good work of Chabad..
Chabad is great. I love these people, they are happy, proud Jews who accept everyone, unlike these grouchy people who can only put other Jews down. Do they think they are being “religious” by defaming others? What Torah are they reading from?
I love the Menorahs. Chabad people, please do NOT listen to these negative people, who’s spite, negativity and arrogance give religious Jews a bad name.