Love and Unity: Hanukkah Season

The Jewish celebration of the recovery of Jerusalem is on its way this December 5 with the Chabad of Frisco hosting the Festival of Lights according to a Dallas Morning News article from November 30 which reports, 

“Chabad of Frisco will hold its 8th annual menorah lighting and Hanukkah celebration on Sunday, Dec. 5 in Simpson Plaza across from Frisco City Hall.

Participants can see the lighting of an 8-foot menorah and listen to Hanukkah music. The Kosher Klezmer Band will perform a live concert with traditional Jewish music from Eastern Europe, America and Israel.

The event will offer traditional holiday foods, including latkes (potato pancakes fried in oil) and gelt (chocolate coins). Children will receive dreidels and a holiday toy. They will also be able to play in bounce houses and make Hanukkah crafts.”

However, this year’s Hanukkah will be different and special as the entire celebration will gear towards an initiative dedicated to the reinforcement and increase of love and unity according to a Dallas Morning News editorial article from December 2. In it they say, 

“This Hanukkah season, during the Festival of Lights, Jewish communities across the U.S. are turning on their cameras and spreading their own message: We are here, our friends are here, and we will stand up to hate.

A coalition of 60 Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas’ Jewish Community Relations Council, or JCRC, is spearheading a social media campaign to shine a light on antisemitism. The groups are inviting everyone to take a selfie with a flashlight or a candle and post it on social media anytime during Hanukkah with the hashtag #ShineALight.

“We are hoping that all people will come together to focus attention on the increase in antisemitism nationally and internationally and demonstrate the importance of dispelling the darkness and hate,” said Anita Zusman Eddy, executive director of JCRC.”

Out of eight cities, Dallas was chosen by the organizers to hold up the initiative to go along with the celebration. 

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