Chabad of Pasadena Lights a Community Menorah at City Hall, Light in “A Very Dark World”

As the Israel-Hamas war continued to rage in the Middle East, Chabad Pasadena gathered together nearly 200 congregants, friends and neighbors at Pasadena City Hall Sunday evening to light a “Jewish Unity” menorah in celebration of Hanukkah.

According to the Talmud and historical accounts, Judah Maccabee, one of the five sons of the Jewish priest Mattathias, led a rebellion against the Seleucid King Antiochus IV and his efforts to suppress Jewish practices. 

Within a few years, the Maccabees successfully drove the Seleucids out of Jerusalem. 

Judah Maccabee ordered the rededication of the Second Temple and called for the menorah, a candelabrum representing knowledge and creation, to be lit again. 

Although there was only enough olive oil to keep the menorah’s candles burning for a single day, the flames miraculously continued for eight nights, giving the Jews time to prepare more oil. 

This event inspired the proclamation of a yearly eight-day festival, now known as Hanukkah.

“The message of Hanukkah,” said Rabbi Chaim Hanoka of Chabad Pasadena, “is really a message of hope and light, not just for us,  in our immediate home or community, but to the world at large.

“I don’t have to tell you,” he continued, “it’s not been an easy few months for the Jewish people, particularly for those living in the holy land, our land, our country. These are our brothers and sisters, who are doing whatever they can to defend what is rightfully ours.”

Before climbing a ladder to light the menorah set at the top of the City Hall steps, Rabbi Hanoka led the congregants in song and prayer and reminded them to light a candle or menorah in prayer at home and to be “the light in a very dark world.”