FEATURE
Lights against all odds The story of Tucson’s tallest Menorah and others that have prevailed over resistance By Libby Herz On Sunday, November 28, the first night of Chanukah, Tucson’s tallest Menorah will be lit in a joyous ceremony for the 38th time. It will be one of more than 15,000 large public menorahs sponsored by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in more than 100 countries, helping children and adults of all walks of life discover and enjoy Chanukah. Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, commemorates the Maccabees’ victory over the Syrian-Greek rulers who tried to force Jews to abandon the Torah and their faith in G-d. The Maccabees, a small group of learners turned warriors, won the war against the formidable Greek army against all odds.
4
Then, they returned to celebrate and praise G-d at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. To their horror, they found the
Temple in shambles. The Greek soldiers had destroyed and defiled the Temple. The Jewish people got to work, fixing and cleaning and soon re-dedicated the Holy Temple by lighting the Menorah. The little pure olive oil they found miraculously lasted for eight days. Today, public menorah lightings have become a Jewish tradition that celebrates the ability to practice Judaism proudly and publicly. Menorahs are lit all over the world in heart-warming ceremonies, including at the White House and government buildings and shopping malls and stadiums across the United States. While Jews look forward to public menorah lightings each year, some recall a time when these public displays of Judaism were considered to be a controversial compromise of Church and State. In 1989, for instance, a public menorah lighting in Pittsburgh made international
headlines in the case of County of Allegheny v. ACLU. In this case, the County of Allegheny claimed that the public display violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Ultimately, after months of deliberation, six of the justices concluded that the menorah was constitutionally legitimate due to its universal message of freedom of the spirit.
dom from tyranny and oppression, and the ultimate victory of good over evil.”
“I certainly don’t think that the fears of those who argue that the Church-State Separation would be forever undermined by the putting of a Chanukah menorah on the streets turned out to be the case,” says Jonathan Sarna, Professor of American Jewish History of Brandeis University.
In Tucson, Arizona, the very first public menorah lighting took place in 1983 at El Presidio Park in Downtown Tucson. The three acres of green space, a rose garden, veterans memorials and art installations is surrounded by the Old County Courthouse, City Hall of Tucson and the Pima County Administration.
Moreover, as the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, wrote in a letter to the Jewish community in Teaneck, New Jersey, the menorah symbolizes a “universal message of freedom of the human spirit, free-
“I was so new in town, I didn’t even know where El Presidio Park was,” says the Brooklyn-born Rabbi Yoseph Shemtov. He soon learned about the storied history of the plaza which was first used as a park in 1776 and later served as a
Public menorah lightings now take place all over the world, including at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, in front of the Bank of China in Hong Kong, the Kremlin in Moscow’s Red Square and beside the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
