Menorah Lighting Ceremony to mark Hanukkah celebration
NILES -- The annual community Menorah Lighting Ceremony at the Eastwood Mall at 4 p.m. Sunday will highlight the Youngstown-area Jewish community's annual eight-day celebration of Hanukkah.
Known as the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah this year began at sundown Friday.
The ninth annual menorah lighting, co-sponsored by Children of Israel Synagogue in Liberty and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, will include the illumination of a 10-foot-high menorah, the largest in the Mahoning Valley, by long-time community leader Howard Solomon.
The program will also feature music and traditional Hanukkah foods such as potato pancakes and chocolate coins.
Jody Nudell, an art teacher at Liberty High School, and juniors and seniors at the school, this year repainted the mural that accompanies the menorah.
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, is to speak.
Hanukkah commemorates the first struggle in recorded history for religious freedom and personal liberty. In 175 B.C., Syrian Greeks who had annexed Israel tried to force Jews to renounce their faith and worship Greek idols.
A small group of Jews rebelled and regained possession of the sacred temple which had been desecrated by the Syrian Greeks. When those Jews attempted to cleanse and rededicate the temple, only enough oil remained for the eternal light to burn for one day. Miraculously, this oil lasted for eight days, thereby allowing the Jews enough time to produce more sacred oil.