Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on November 30, 2021

After a muted celebration last year, public menorah lightings are back across the Bay Area! Here are a few photos from the first night. Send us your Hanukkah event pics throughout the eight-day holiday to [emailprotected] and well add them here and on our Instagram.

And if youre looking for a public menorah lighting to attend, weve got you covered over here.

The city of Tiburon lit its own giant public menorah on Sunday night thanks to the efforts of Gina Waldman, longtime Tiburon resident and co-founder of JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa).

Waldman coordinated the purchase of the 9-foot menorah after a local family who had used their own menorah for public lightings moved away three years ago. Nightly lightings will be hosted by different local families at Fountain Plaza in Tiburon, at 5:30 p.m. through Dec. 5, and a community inaugural event will take place on Saturday, Dec. 4, with a musical Havdalah ceremony and Sephardic-style lighting by Rabbi Tsipora Gabai.

After a small pandemic-safe gathering last year, the annual Bill Graham Menorah Project in Union Square was back in a big way Sunday night. This is the events 46th year. When it began in 1975, it was one of the first big public menorah lightings outside of Israel.

Rabbi Yosef Langer of SF Chabad, known to Giants fans as The Rally Rabbi, was the emcee as usual. He was joined by a number of guests atop the enormous menorah, including State Sen. Scott Wiener (see main image at the top of the story).

San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar joined West Portal Chabads Rabbi Menachem Levin to light the shamash.

Avraham The Dreidel Man Potash, son of Chabad of Cole Valley directors Rabbi Nosson and Chaya Potash, went out in the community on a pedi-bike decorated to look like a dreidel with a colorful flashing LED menorah on top to share the spirit and joy of the holiday.

State Assembly member Mia Bonta helped Rabbi Meir Shmotkin light a 9-foot lego menorah built by local children at a community Hanukkah celebration in Alameda.

Read the rest here:

PHOTOS: Jews gather across Bay Area for public menorah lightings J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

Category: Sephardic
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