Giant Can Menorah Lighting to kick off Chanukah

December 4, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — On Tuesday Dec. 4, the Jewish community will begin to celebrate Chanukah and light up lives with the kindling of a giant 12-foot canned food Menorah! The festivities will get underway at 3 p.m. at Turlington Plaza at the University of Florida . Many dignitaries and local officials will be on hand to join in the Chanukah celebration and deliver holiday greetings. The Menorah lighting will be preceded by the kindling of the flame of unity, peace and freedom honoring our U.S. armed forces and our great country. The program will also feature Chanukah music, traditional hot latkes, tasty jelly doughnuts, Dreidels and Chanukah kits. This program will reveal unprecedented Jewish pride and proud religious freedom, which we are free to express as citizens in this great country.

The Lubavitch-Chabad Jewish Student and Community Center and its UF student group in conjunction with the AEPi, TEP, and ZBT fraternities and AEPhi and DPhiE sororities are introducing an innovative and meaningful way to celebrate Chanukah. Dubbed” Lights for Life,” the project shares the message and warmth of Chanukah beyond the festivities, through donating more than 500 # 10 cans (institution sized) of food sponsored for the construction of the Can Food Menorah, to local homeless shelters and food pantries for the poor. This special humanitarian effort will make use of the actual Menorah constructed of cans, which will be lit in ceremonies on the first night of Chanukah, Dec. 4 at 3 p.m. in the center of the UF campus on the third night, Dec. 6 at 6 p.m. at the Gainesville downtown Plaza. After the celebrations, the Menorah will be disassembled and the cans will be taken to local homeless shelters and food pantries.

Community members and students alike are encouraged to help sponsor the 12-foot canned food Menorah. Donations are being accepted , with participants being able to fill in their own name and include a positive massage to the recipient. Donations accepted at 2021 NW 5th Ave., Gainesville, FL 32603.

“Chanukah is all about light, warmth and celebration. “This way we will be including hundreds of people less fortunate than ourselves in our festival of lights. We are very excited and proud of this effort. We hope that everyone will participate” said Mrs. Chanie Goldman Co-Director of the center.

The holiday of Chanukah, the festival of lights commemorates the victory of a small Jewish force against a tremendous Greek army, which was seeking to spiritually and physically annihilate the Jews. Chanukah is celebrated each year as we give thanks for religious freedom then, as well as now. The kindling of Menorahs for eight days highlights this Holiday. “Chanukah has symbolized religious freedom since its Maccabean inception over 2,000 years ago, its message is especially timely during the uncertain times which we are living in,” said Rabbi Berl Goldman, Director of the Center, “it contains a universal message for people of all faiths-that, ultimately, good will triumph over evil, freedom over oppression, and light over darkness.”

For further information on the above event, or if you have any questions related to Chanukah, please call Rabbi Goldman at 352.336.5877 or 352.256.3323