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Jewish community eager to celebrate more normal Hanukkah

Jewish community adapts to restrictions to celebrate

  • Hanukkah began over the weekend
  • Hanukkah adapted last year during pandemic
  • Menorah remains at Stuart Park for entire holiday

All over the world, Jewish communities are celebrating Hanukkah.

For many it is the first time they can celebrate together as a group since the start of the pandemic.

In Kelowna, Jewish families met Sunday in Stuart Park to light the first candle on the nine-foot-tall menorah across from City Hall.

“Thank God, this year we were able to gather again,” Rabbi Shmuley Hecht, Chabad-Lubavitch Okanagan director, told Kelowna10. Chabad Okanagan sponsors and organizes the event.

“Working with the city in different protocols it was a little different this year than it has been in the past … people were so happy to get out and be together.”

To follow current health measures, at the event, Latkes (a traditional fried potato dish) and doughnuts were pre-packaged and given out to attendees and passer-by.

Hot drinks, like apple cider and hot chocolate, were also served. To further spread joy, organizers brought small toys and candy for children.

After 4 p.m. each day, an additional candle is lit on the large menorah until Hanukkah ends on Dec. 6.

Last year, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kelowna Jewish community couldn’t host the usual in-person gathering.

To continue the annual lighting event in compliance with public health restrictions, Hecht’s wife Fraidy took their family to the park and lit the menorah for a live Zoom audience, accompanied by BC Liberal MLA Renee Merrifield.

Chabad Okanagan also took it upon themselves to either send out or hand-deliver small gift packages to all the Jewish homes they knew of, which numbered in the hundreds. They decided to continue that tradition this year.

The menorah will be at Stuart Park during the entire eight days of Hanukkah. Hecht said it serves as an important symbol for the whole community.

“I think it’s very important for everyone to see stability, endurance, and especially growth through any kind of storm of life,” Hecht said.

“This holiday in particular is symbolic of this kind of circumstance and how we were able to continue to live meaningfully, purposefully, and most importantly with joy no matter what’s happening around us or around the world.”

Published 2021-11-30 by David Hanson

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