Sunday, December 13, 2009
Nine-foot menorah lights up Main Street
Although the oil froze in the 23-degree weather, Rabbi Chaim Bruk was able to get the two candles on a 9-foot-tall steel menorah lit for the second night of Hanukkah.
“Maybe we’ll make our own holiday miracle tonight,” Bruk joked to the group who gathered to watch Saturday night’s menorah lighting in front of First Security Bank at Bozeman Avenue and Main Street.
This is the third year that Bruk, head of the Hasidic Jewish Chabad Lubavitch of Montana, has organized the event in celebration of the Jewish holiday, which commemorates the Maccabees’ recapture of the Jewish Temple from Syrian Greeks.
The eight-branched candelabra will be lit on each night of Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights.
“The celebration of Hanukkah is to illuminate the darkness of the world with as much light as possible, and there’s no better place to do that than Main Street,” Bruk said. “This menorah will stand for eight days proudly, to tell the world that no matter how dark it can be, there will always be light.”
Bozeman’s menorah is one of thousands worldwide, Bruk said, symbolizing religious freedom and the power of light over darkness.
After Saturday night, the candles will be replaced with electric bulbs, with a new one blinking on with each day of the holiday. Hanukkah began on Friday and lasts until Dec. 19.
Saturday’s celebration also represented a sense of community for those like Stephanie Greenbaum, whose family moved to Bozeman from New York three years ago.
“Coming from New York, where every other person was Jewish ... this is wonderful,” Greenbaum said. “It’s heartwarming. It’s family. It’s heritage.”
Ron Farmer, president of First Security Bank, was asked to light the center candle in appreciation of his hosting the menorah outside his business.
“I consider it an honor,” Farmer said. “We obviously celebrate a number of holidays at this time of year, why not be able to celebrate Hanukkah in front of the bank?”
In a speech, Mayor-elect Jeff Kraus referenced both the Main Street explosion and the reemergence of a white supremacist movement this fall as reasons why, perhaps more than years past, the public display of diversity was important.
“Given the year we just had, with the tragedy across the street and the darkness up the street, I can’t tell you how huge it is to have a menorah on Main Street,” he said. “It is our dedication to each other that binds our community.
“That is the triumph over the darkness,” Krauss said.
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2009/12/13/news/100menorah.txt
“Maybe we’ll make our own holiday miracle tonight,” Bruk joked to the group who gathered to watch Saturday night’s menorah lighting in front of First Security Bank at Bozeman Avenue and Main Street.
This is the third year that Bruk, head of the Hasidic Jewish Chabad Lubavitch of Montana, has organized the event in celebration of the Jewish holiday, which commemorates the Maccabees’ recapture of the Jewish Temple from Syrian Greeks.
The eight-branched candelabra will be lit on each night of Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights.
“The celebration of Hanukkah is to illuminate the darkness of the world with as much light as possible, and there’s no better place to do that than Main Street,” Bruk said. “This menorah will stand for eight days proudly, to tell the world that no matter how dark it can be, there will always be light.”
Bozeman’s menorah is one of thousands worldwide, Bruk said, symbolizing religious freedom and the power of light over darkness.
After Saturday night, the candles will be replaced with electric bulbs, with a new one blinking on with each day of the holiday. Hanukkah began on Friday and lasts until Dec. 19.
Saturday’s celebration also represented a sense of community for those like Stephanie Greenbaum, whose family moved to Bozeman from New York three years ago.
“Coming from New York, where every other person was Jewish ... this is wonderful,” Greenbaum said. “It’s heartwarming. It’s family. It’s heritage.”
Ron Farmer, president of First Security Bank, was asked to light the center candle in appreciation of his hosting the menorah outside his business.
“I consider it an honor,” Farmer said. “We obviously celebrate a number of holidays at this time of year, why not be able to celebrate Hanukkah in front of the bank?”
In a speech, Mayor-elect Jeff Kraus referenced both the Main Street explosion and the reemergence of a white supremacist movement this fall as reasons why, perhaps more than years past, the public display of diversity was important.
“Given the year we just had, with the tragedy across the street and the darkness up the street, I can’t tell you how huge it is to have a menorah on Main Street,” he said. “It is our dedication to each other that binds our community.
“That is the triumph over the darkness,” Krauss said.
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2009/12/13/news/100menorah.txt
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