Menorah lighting in Shoreline Sunday is open to the public

Menorah lighting at Shoreline City Hall
Photo courtesy Chabad Jewish Center

Chabad Jewish Center of Shoreline will hold a public Hanukkah menorah lighting event with a massive 9-foot menorah at Shoreline City Hall, on Sunday, December 10, 2023 from 4:30pm to 6pm.

The event will feature an array of entertainment for all ages including giant chocolate “Gelt Drop” performance by the Shoreline Fire Department Ladder Truck, as well as hot drinks and a selection of traditional Hanukkah foods.

Open to the public free of charge. Donations appreciated

Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, begins this year on the evening of Thursday, December 7 and concludes the evening of Friday, December 15. 

It recalls the victory of a militarily weak but spiritually strong Jewish people, who defeated the Syrian-Greeks who had overrun ancient Israel and sought to impose restrictions on the Jewish way of life and practice. They desecrated and defiled the Holy Temple and the oil prepared for the lighting of the menorah – part of the daily service. 

Upon defeating their enemies and recapturing the Temple only one jar of undefiled oil was found, enough to burn for one day, but it lasted miraculously for eight. In commemoration, Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight days by lighting an eight-branched candelabrum known as a menorah, adding another candle each night.