TAMPA, Fla. — The City of Tampa kicked off the first night of Chanukah as it hosted a Menorah lighting festival Downtown on Sunday.
"It's one of my favorite Jewish holidays," festival attendee Allen Berrebbi said. "It's based on a miracle, by the way, when the Jews only had enough oil for one night, and it ended up lasting for eight nights. It's also a story about the Maccabees, who fought against the invaders and how they conquered the bad guys, basically."
Rabbi Mendy Dubrowski said the lighting of the menorah is a Jewish tradition, but it has universal symbolism.
"A candle illuminates its entire surroundings," he said. "Now, when a candle shares its light with another candle, your original candle is not diminished; the light grows stronger. So when we reach out to one another, and we share love and kindness, it doesn't make us smaller. It makes us bigger and stronger when we're united."
Chanukah is a tradition some parents are working to carry on.
"We kind of don’t do that much for Chanukah," festival attendee Jason Neuman said. "There's Christmas and Hanukkah in our family, so my wife's been trying to push more than a Chanukah tradition, especially for my daughter to learn about it."
Thunderbug even made an appearance. There were also face paintings, and Tampa Fire Rescue dropped chocolate coins from the sky.
"I just love being with my people and everybody having a good time and celebrating and seeing the kids go crazy for the coins and the dreidel. It's a lot of fun," Berrebbi said.
It’s a holiday family and friends are grateful to be celebrating together.
"It teaches us that life is all about progress and growing stronger and more light each night tells us that as long as we're moving in the right direction, we're doing a great job," Rabbi Mendy said.
