{"id":25397,"date":"2019-12-13T18:54:56","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T23:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=25397"},"modified":"2019-12-13T18:55:07","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T23:55:07","slug":"celebrate-the-start-of-hanukkah-next-sunday-at-menorah-lighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/celebrate-the-start-of-hanukkah-next-sunday-at-menorah-lighting\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate the start of Hanukkah next Sunday at Menorah lighting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Celebrate the start of the Jewish Festival of Lights next\nSunday, December 22, at a special Menorah Lighting Ceremony at Town Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The start of Hanukkah will be marked with the lighting of\na giant menorah in the forecourt of Town Hall on John West Way with\nfamily-friendly activities running from 4 \u2013 6 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Festivities will include not only the lighting of the\nmenorah itself, presided over by local dignitaries and officials from Chabad\nAurora, but also live music, traditional celebratory foods, and children\u2019s\ncrafts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt last year\u2019s Menorah Ceremony, we lit the first candle\non the fourth day, but this year\u2019s celebration we\u2019re able to light the first\ncandle on the first day of Hanukkah,\u201d says Shelley Ware, Special Events\nCoordinator for the Town of Aurora, who is co-organizing this year\u2019s event with\nChabad Aurora\u2019s Rabbi Yossi Hecht. \u201cWe really want to emphasize this event is\ninclusive, so even if there are some people who don\u2019t have a Jewish background,\nwe want everyone to feel comfortable in coming out, celebrating and learning \u2013\nas well as ask any questions and settle any curiosity. As everyone knows, we\njust finished our Christmas market, so it is quite nice that we have another\ncelebration that is widely celebrated at this time of year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur main objective is to ensure this ceremony is\nauthentic as possible. There will be more than 1,500 Hanukkah celebrations\nacross Ontario that particular week and although we want to make it authentic,\nwe want to have some unique things to it as well and, of course, make it a fun\nand inviting evening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paramount in achieving these goals, says Ms. Ware, is the\nparticipation of Chabad Aurora, which has been integral in the planning of\nthese public ceremonies for the last three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has been an essential partnership,\u201d she says. \u201cRabbi\nHecht has provided great leadership and [have brought in] authentic features.\nOne of the elements is going to be the traditional foods available in samples\nat the event. It is through these partnerships that we\u2019re actually able to get\nthe kosher-approved foods that are authentic to be served at a function like\nthis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous year\u2019s food selections have included authentic\npotato latkes and jelly donuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlso, our crafts for children have been specifically\nsourced from a kosher provider as well so that authenticity fits with what the\noverall celebration is about. The fire guy will be doing his fire show. We have\na Hanukkah based band that will be coming up to do the singing. There are\nindoor and outdoor activities. Whatever the weather proves to be on Sunday,\nDecember 22, we have offerings in both environments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years of helping to plan this seasonal\ngathering, Ms. Ware says her eyes have been opened to just how large the local\nJewish community is and how important a menorah lighting ceremony is in\nbringing not just the Jewish community, but the many faith and cultural\ncommunities that make up Aurora, together in a festive, collaborative spirit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt last year\u2019s event, the real sentiment I got was an\nemotional one, that families were so happy and so touched emotionally that\nthere was this kind of celebration offered in Aurora and they didn\u2019t have to go\nto other communities,\u201d says Ms. Ware. \u201cIt will be very interesting to see how\nmuch the event grows this year, now that there are two years where this has\nbeen done and awareness is growing with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on Aurora\u2019s Menorah Lighting Ceremony, visit aurora.ca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir <\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Celebrate the start of the Jewish Festival of Lights next Sunday, December 22, at a special Menorah Lighting Ceremony at Town Hall. The start of Hanukkah will be marked with the lighting of a giant menorah in the forecourt of Town Hall on John West Way with family-friendly activities running from 4 \u2013 6 p.m. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6BD","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 15:24:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}