Hanukkah Celebration Begins Sunday
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WHEELING -- When Rabbi Joshua Lief of Temple Shalom looks out at the large menorah light display standing in front of his synagogue on Rt. 88, he remembers the year it came into being.
In the second year of the Festival of Lights - Oglebay Park's massive light show with a mostly Christmas theme - then-CEO of the Wheeling Park Commission Randy Worls invited businesses and organizations throughout Wheeling to join in. Temple Shalom was more than happy to be part of the celebration, and built a display that could both be part of the festivities and show visitors a glimpse of the Jewish community's history.
That, Lief said, is the real meaning of the Hanukkah celebration. It's the opportunity for members of the Jewish community to be themselves and celebrate their religion and history, even if larger celebrations surround them.
That meaning, Lief said, is at the very origin of the holiday. In 167 B.C., the Seleucids, a Syrian-Greek empire, outlawed Judaism and demanded Jews adopt Greek culture. Three years later, the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy was successful and the Second Temple in Jerusalem was rededicated.
"The message of Hanukkah is incredibly relevant," Lief said.
"In the face of an overwhelming popular culture that demanded everyone else join in with them, all the Jews wanted was not to convince anyone else to become Jewish, but to have the right as a minority to continue to get to be themselves."
When Lief goes to schools and talks to young students about Hanukkah, he said the story of the holiday really is a lesson about bullying.
"It's don't be cruel to other people and allow everyone to be themselves," Lief said.
There will be several celebrations throughout the Hanukkah season in and around Temple Shalom, Lief said. The synagogue's religious school last week collected stuffed animals to donate to the children of Harmony House. On Sunday morning, the religious school will practice songs the students will perform Friday.
On Sunday night, Lief said congregants will light their menorahs at home. On Monday night, Temple Shalom congregants will gather via Zoom to light their menorahs together, a tradition they began during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The biggest celebration will come Friday evening. The religious school students will sing and all congregants bring their menorahs to the synagogue to light together. And since Friday is the sixth night of Hanukkah, Lief said that act will be very luminescent.
"We'll make the traditional joke that I have a fire extinguisher up at the pulpit with me, just in case," Lief said.
A dinner will follow the service.
Lief admits it sometimes can feel overwhelming for the Jewish community to celebrate Hanukkah during the Christmas season. Christmas-themed decorations and music fill stores and other gathering places. Yet the spirit of Hanukkah remains strong, to celebrate one's identity, even if it isn't the prevailing identity.
It harkens back to Temple Shalom's menorah display, Lief said. The Ohio Valley's Jewish community loves helping celebrate the season, and it loves celebrating its heritage and history in doing so.
And Lief feels the local Jewish community can feel comforted that the Wheeling area welcomes that celebration.
"We can be us and still be part of the larger community," Lief said. "We can be a minority who is still part of a larger world. We can be free to be us and still be friends and neighbors with folks who aren't us. That's the ideal.
"We're very proud to be us," he added, "and we're very proud to be part of a community that's much larger than us."