Community Invited to Celebrate Hanukkah

From Jewish Community Center:

Community Invited to Celebrate Hanukkah

This year’s Community Hanukkah Celebration, open to the entire community, will be held on the third night of Hanukkah, Sunday, December 13, 2009, from 5-7 pm at the Jewish Community Center (JCC), 500 Clubhouse Road in Vestal. Cost is $6. for adults, $4. for children, no one exceeding a family maximum fee of $24.00.

The festivities will begin outdoors at 5pm with a torch walk lighting the outdoor community menorah, then followed indoors with a performance by local students, dinner with traditional Hanukkah foods, children's crafts and activities.

Reservations are appreciated by calling the JCC office at 724-2417. The Jewish Community Center is a not-for-profit, United Way agency that serves the community at large regardless of age, race, religion, sexual orientation or ability to pay.


Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah), also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday beginning on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may fall anytime from late November to late December. This year the first night of Hanukkah begins on Friday, December 11. It celebrates the re-kindling of the Temple menorah at the time of the Maccabee rebellion.

The festival is observed in Jewish homes by the kindling of lights on each night of the holiday: One on the first night, two on the second, and so on.

Hanukkah, from the Hebrew word for "dedication" or "consecration", marks the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by the forces of Antiochus IV and commemorates the "miracle of the container of oil." According to the Talmud, at the re-dedication following the victory of the Maccabees over the Seleucid Empire, there was only enough consecrated olive oil to fuel the eternal flame in the Temple for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days, which was the length of time it took to press, prepare and consecrate fresh olive oil.