Public menorah lighting celebrates Hanukkah in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — The community is invited to the lighting of a menorah in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday to mark the third night of Hanukkah. The public lighting is an American tradition that stretches back more than half a century.

The first recorded public American menorah lighting happened in 1974 in front of Independence Hall. Since then, the tradition of lighting a public menorah has been carried out in cities around the world.

In Cedar Rapids, this year’s menorah — a nine-foot structure — will be lit by Chabad N.E. Iowa at the Collins Road entrance to Lindale Mall, 4444 First Ave. NE.

The Cedar Rapids menorah will be one of more than 15,000 throughout the world, including at the White House in Washington, D.C., the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the St. Louis Arch, the Great Wall of China and Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.

“At this fraught time for the Jewish community, with war still in Israel and American Jews facing a rise in antisemitism, this year we are doing more to celebrate Hanukkah with joy and Jewish pride,” Rabbi Aron Schimmel of Chabad N.E. Iowa, said in a press release. “The Menorah and Hanukkah represent freedom of the human spirit, freedom from tyranny and oppression, and of the victory of good over evil.”

The Cedar Rapids menorah lighting is planned to begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday — the third day of Hanukkah. As in past years, it will include a lighting, as well as entertainment for all ages: music, dancing rabbis, and traditional Hanukkah foods like latkes and doughnuts.

Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, began this year on the evening of Sunday, Dec. 14 and concludes the evening of Monday, Dec. 22. It recalls the victory of a Jewish people who defeated the Syrian-Greeks who had overrun ancient Israel and sought to impose restrictions on the Jewish way of life and practice.

The Syrian-Greeks desecrated and defiled the Holy Temple and the oil prepared for the lighting of the menorah — part of the daily service. Upon defeating their enemies and recapturing their Temple, only one jar of undefiled oil was found, enough to burn for one day, but it lasted for eight.

In commemoration, Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight days by lighting an eight-branched candelabrum known as a menorah, adding another candle each night.

“Celebrating Hanukkah is a potent point of light, Jewish pride and confidence for American Jews in the fight against darkness and antisemitism,” Schimmel said in a press release. “The celebration of Hanukkah underscores the G-d endowed liberty that is at the heart of what America represents.”

The event Monday is free and open to everyone.