Petaluma Jewish community celebrates ‘healing’ Hanukkah

‘Fire can destroy, but it also shows the way in darkness,’ a Petaluma Rabbi says as Jews celebrate festival of lights.|

At sundown on Tuesday, approximately 75 people gathered outside in front of Petaluma’s B’nai Israel Jewish Center on Western Street, celebrating the first night of Hanukkah with the lighting of a large, brand new, outdoor menorah. For many present, the event held a special significance.

Though B’nai Israel has been a part the Petaluma community for over 150 years, this marks the first time in the center’s collective memory that Hanukkah was celebrated in so public and open a fashion.

“It was wonderful, a great turnout,” said Rabbi Ted Feldman. “It’s meaningful because this is the first time we did something so publicly at Hanukkah, out in front of our building. In the past, our community has wanted to remain low profile, but in our tradition, there is a directive to, for lack of a better word, ‘advertise’ the miracle that took place in ancient times, to light the our menorahs in plain view.”

According to Jewish tradition, the eight-day-long Festival of Lights springs from the story of a small group of Jews, fighting for cultural and literal survival against the ruling Greeks in 166 B.C.E. Judea. The miracle of Hanukkah refers to the oil, enough to light the destroyed temple’s lamps for only one day, instead lasting eight days, long enough for more oil to be produced.

“For some, it’s the story of a few having victory over the many,” Feldman said. “For others it’s a story of religious freedom, or a story of light shining through the night, especially at this time of year when the nights become longer.”

In remembrance of the miracle of the oil, Jewish communities annually celebrate Hanukkah for eight days, beginning at sunset each night. This year, Hanukkah began on Dec. 12, and will end on Dec. 20. According to Feldman, this year’s Hanukkah celebrations carry a special significance.

“There are many people in Sonoma County who are hurting,” he said. “The fires we were confronted with brought so much pain. In a way, this is a reminder that flames, which can be so destructive, can also be a symbol of hope and light and life.”

Metaphorically, Feldman added, the lights of B’nai Israel’s new menorah - at a time when the country has seen a rise in anti-Semitic rhetoric, and witnessed high-profile white supremacy rallies inundated with hateful images – symbolize the local Jewish community’s solidarity and resistance to such ideas.

“Yes, there are people in my community who are fearful, and being so public this year certainly could create a sense of vulnerability,” Feldman allowed. “But for most of us, it’s a sign of pride. It’s a sign that our community, along with the wonderful wider community of Petaluma, stands together to confront intolerance and hate of all kinds.”

The tradition of public menorah lightings has not existed long in America, it turns out.

“There’s a fascinating history that goes with public lighting of the menorah,” said Rabbi Dovid Bush, of the Chabad Jewish Center. “In the last generation, with Holocaust, and Soviet oppression, and all other forms of antisemitism, there was always this idea that the safest thing was to light your menorah in hiding, down in some underground cellar, behind closed and shaded windows.”

Even after immigrating to America, many preferred to keep their faith, and their Hanukkah menorahs, away from the non-Jewish eyes of their community. That all began to change in the early 1970s.

“It was in 1974 that the first public menorah lighting took place in America,” said Bush. “There was a lighting in Philadelphia, in front of Independence hall, the symbol of liberty and freedom. There was a lighting in San Francisco, in Union Square, that same year. Without any of these groups knowing the others were doing it. It was just time.”

Since then, the public lighting of menorahs during Hanukkah has become relatively commonplace throughout the country, in cities and smaller communities.

“That’s Hanukkah in a nutshell,” said Bush. “It’s about liberty and freedom and peace.”

Bush also feels that the celebration of Hanukkah, this year in particular, carries an especially powerful message.

“My hope is that all who have been harmed by the fires,” he said, “when they light their own menorahs, or see the lighting of public menorahs at the Petaluma River or wherever, that they will see that flame, that beautiful flame, and find some healing in it. Fire definitely can destroy, but it also shows us the way in the darkness. That’s what Hanukkah is all about.”

(Contact David at david.templeton@arguscourier.com.)

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