Although the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the celebration of Hanukkah, which began December 10 this year, throughout the world the joy of the festival shines through.
In Washington, D.C., U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt joined Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Vice President of American Friends of Lubavitch, in kindling the first of the eight lights of the menorah December 10 on the Ellipse at the National Mall.
In New York City, Rabbi Shmuel Butman lit a 32-foot, 4,000-pound menorah at Manhattan’s Grand Army Plaza at the southeast corner of Central Park.
NYMetroParents website published a directory of online events and ideas for families, including the live streaming December 18 of a one-night-only performance by American indie rock band Yo La Tengo band, which has hosted an eight-night Hanukkah concert series in New York City for almost two decades.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker ignited the first candle on his electric menorah on TV, and in Chicago, 92.7 Classical HQR radio station broadcast and continues to stream “Candles Burning Brightly,” which includes the late Theodore Bikel’s rendition of Howard Schwartz’s "The Lost Menorahah.”
In Wisconsin, a group called “Cantors of Wisconsin” broadcast their performance of a selection of Hanukkah songs Sunday evening December 13.
In Los Angeles, Stephen Wise Temple in Bel Air created a one-of-a-kind festival of lights called LIT: A digital drive-thru Hanukkah Experience, a blend of synchronized lighting displays and projection installations set to music, available at night through December 17.
The annual Hanukkah celebration at the Skirball Cultural Center in L.A., took place December 13 and can be viewed on YouTube. The “holiday extravaganza,” includes a puppetry performance and jazz and gypsy-rock music concerts.
In London, a giant menorah was lit in Trafalgar Square December 6. Paris celebrated the first night of the festival by lighting a 30-foot menorah at the Eiffel Tower.
To “counter the darkness of the coronavirus pandemic,” the Jewish Agency for Israel organized the lighting of Hanukkah candles in iconic locations around the world such as Times Square in New York, Red Square in Moscow, the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, Tower Bridge in London, the Nybroplan in Stockholm, the National Palace in Mexico City, the Colosseum in Rome, and the Menorah Center in Ukraine.
“Global Hanukkah Prayer for Israel, Celebrating the Miracles,” a virtual event to build bridges among Jews and Christians is streaming on YouTube and Facebook, attracting participants from Africa to Latin America and China.
And in Israel, where U.S. Ambassador David Friedman joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in lighting a massive Hanukkah menorah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem December 10, news of normalization of relations between Israel and Morocco is being hailed as another Hanukkah miracle.
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