ST PAUL, Minn. — As the sun dipped below the horizon Thursday, a group from Chabad Lubavitch marked the beginning of Hanukkah by lighting a large menorah on the State Capitol lawn. A rabbi sang in Hebrew as a candle flickered and children gathered around a table full of jelly donuts.
But this typically cheerful Jewish holiday known as the Festival of Lights arrived at an especially dark time for Jews around the globe, two months after an attack on Israel that sparked a war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. And the numbers of American Jews being targeted with hate crimes is on the rise.
"Hopefully it will give our Jews the inspiration they need, the light in the darkness they need to get through the struggles they're facing at this particular moment," Rabbi Marcus Rubenstein of Temple of Aaron in Saint Paul told KARE.
"Our children, our students here, our congregants are experiencing that antisemitism, and they're coming to us and saying what are we gonna do? I think Hanukkah is the exact right thing now. It reminds them that we've always been fighting antisemitism forever and ever and we've gotten through, and we've made it and we've overcome."
For children, the celebrations include spinning dreidels to win special coins, singing holiday songs and eating treats. But the menorah is the most visible outward expression of the holiday.
It harkens back to the time in 164 B.C.E., when the Jewish Maccabee fighters recaptured a temple in Israel from their Greek Syrian rulers. It had been left in ruins, but the Maccabees miraculously kept the temple lamp burning for eight days with only one small vessel of oil.
Rubenstein said the original scriptural texts instructed Jewish families to place their menorahs in front of their homes, and that's still seen in Jerusalem.
"But because of antisemitism in the first place we had to move the menorah inside because already from Roman times, we were dealing so much antisemitism that it was unsafe to put the menorah in the front of the house. So, thousands of years ago we started moving it into the house," Rubenstein said.
Some of his congregants aren't sure about their window menorah displays this year amid the current wave of antisemitism, and the pain being felt by both Jews and Muslims over the casualties of that war.
"I hear calls all the time. 'Rabbi, should I put my Menorah out this year? Should I take down my Mezuzah off the door? I don't want to see another swastika painted on my driveway,'" he said.
"This is yet even hiding it more because it’s still dangerous. And the fact that it’s still dangerous 2,000 years later to be a Jew is so, so sad."
But Minnesota's Jewish families are sticking with their traditions for the most part.
At Cecil's Deli in Saint Paul the Hanukkah vibe was definitely on Thursday afternoon.
"Hanukkah is just an amazing time of year, there's a lot of people that are happy to celebrate, eager to learn about our culture, and of course, great food comes with it as well," said Sophie Leventhal, the great-granddaughter of Cecil and Faye Glickman, the couple who opened the deli in 1949.
Leventhal said some come in search of holiday-themed baked goods, such as sugar cookies with menorahs, dreidels and the Star of David drawn in blue frosting. But the aroma that permeated the air at Cecil's came from the latkes that were sizzling on the griddle back in the kitchen.
"It is basically a deep-fried potato pancake," Leventhal explained. "So, you've got mashed up grated potatoes, onions, matzo meal all together. We flatten it out and fry it until crispy. It's amazing. We serve it with side of sour cream and apple sauce and that creamy and that sweet is in there. Amazing!"
You can't make latkes without cooking oil. And that's the ingredient that connects that comfort food with the menorah, and the miracle of the oil the Maccabee warriors of old witnessed.
"They returned and the temple was destroyed, and they only found one tub of oil. And the next tub wasn't going to come for eight days. So, they put the oil in the lamp and somehow, miraculously the oil lasted for 8 days. That's why we celebrate it for 8 days, and that's why we love oil so much this time of year!"
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