EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A West El Paso synagogue will have a public menorah lighting to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah.
The event will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 25 at Chabad Lubavitch of El Paso, 6516 Escondido Dr.
Following the lighting there will be a community celebration. The event is free.
A 10-foot-tall menorah has been erected in front of Chabad Lubavitch Center for Jewish Life.
This year, Hanukkah will be celebrated from Dec. 25 through Jan. 2. It’s only the fifth time since 1900 that the first night of Hanukkah has fallen on Christmas Day, according to the Associated Press.
This is what Chabad said Hanukkah is all about:
“It recalls the victory of the militarily weak but spiritually strong Jewish people, who defeated the Syrian-Greeks who had sought to impose restrictions on the Jewish way of life and practice, desecrating the Holy Temple and the oil prepared for the daily lighting of the menorah.
“Upon recapturing the Temple, only one jar of undefiled oil — enough to burn for one day —was found, but it lasted miraculously for eight days. In commemoration, Jews light an eight-branched candelabrum known as a menorah, adding another candle each night. The holiday carries a universal message of the triumph of freedom over oppression and light over darkness.”
Additional information about the Hanukkah holiday is available by clicking here.
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