Pennsylvania’s menorah was officially lit at the Capitol in a ceremony at sundown Thursday, marking the start of the second night of this season’s Hanukkah holiday.
Thursday’s celebration was organized by the Harrisburg chapter of Chabad-Lubavitch, an orthodox Jewish group, and featured the lighting of a roughly 10-foot-tall menorah — the traditional candelabra used for Hanukkah, the Jewish “festival of lights” — as well as food, games, musical performances and giveaways.
The fact that Jews are free to express their faith in Pennsylvania’s halls of government “speaks a lot about the greatness of this commonwealth and of this county, and is something that I believe we should all be incredibly proud of,” Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, told Thursday’s crowd.
Hanukkah is an eight-day holiday based on the events of the 2nd century B.C. Maccabean Revolt in ancient Israel. The holiday is timed to the month of Kislev in the traditional Hebrew calendar; this year’s Hanukkah falls late relative to the modern Gregorian calendar, with Hanukkah having started on the evening of Christmas Day.
To compare, last year’s ran from Dec. 7-15, and in 2022 lasted from Dec. 18-26.
The holiday is a celebration of religious freedom for Jews with a universal message of hope and perseverance for people of all faiths, according to Chabad-Lubavitch.
The ancient Maccabees “wanted us to know that no matter the circumstances and against all odds, we can always make light. We always must make light,” said Chabad-Lubavitch of Harrisburg’s Rabbi Shmuel Pewzner.
As Thursday’s speakers noted, 2024 has brought challenges for Jewish people across the globe, with rising incidents of antisemitism as well as the modern state of Israel’s ongoing wars in the Middle East.
“We can all be ambassadors of light,” Pewzner said, encouraging attendees to reach out to their communities in a time of darkness, so that “the people we touch, they too can become ambassadors of goodness, kindness, and light.”