MAYOR HARP TO HELP CELEBRSGwatFIRST NIGHT OF HANUKKAH AT MENORA H LIGHTING ON N.H. GREEN
New Haven – Mayor Toni N. Harp will be among those on the New Haven Green Sunday evening to welcome the start of Hanukkah and light the shamus and first ‘candle’ of the large menorah there. Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, officially begins at sunset Sunday; the ceremony on the Green is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m.
In Judaism, the Hanukkah festival celebrates two miracles: 1) the victory of a small, outnumbered army of Jews – the Maccabees – over the Greeks who had occupied the Holy Land, and 2) the subsequent miracle in which a one-day supply of lamp oil burned for eight days while new oil was purified.
Jewish tradition calls for an additional light to be lit on each of seven nights following; members of the press are invited to cover Sunday’s festive, first night celebration.
WHO: Mayor Toni N. Harp, leaders of New Haven’s Jewish community, and others.
WHAT: First night of Hanukkah celebration.
WHEN: Sunday, December 2, a2018 at 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: On the lower New Haven Green, near the corner of Temple and Elm Streets.
WHY: To acknowledge and celebrate the start of the popular, eight-day Jewish festival of lights.
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