CLEARWATER, Fla — With hurricanes affecting the lives of so many, Rabbi Michael Birnholz says it’s been challenging to celebrate this year at Temple B’nai Israel.
“We have so many members of our congregation that had significant damage to their homes and disruption in their lives and they are still trying to find where they are going to live or repair their homes,” said Birnholz.
With Hanukkah time here, these families finally come together to celebrate at the Clearwater temple again.
The holiday is a festive one commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple of Jerusalem.
As the story of Hanukkah goes, more than two thousand years ago, a small band of Jewish rebels known as the Maccabees were able to fight off Syrian-Greek oppressors who had tried to force them to abandon their religion.
The Maccabees reclaimed their temple.
“And we are told they only found a little bit of oil and that’s one of those incredible stories of Hanukkah. We are told that little bit of oil lasted eight days," said Birnholz.
And that’s why Jews light the menorah for eight days.
It’s also why they use olive oil to fry up potato pancakes, known as latkes.
“I am very much into food and so latkes are an important part of the tradition for me,” said Birnholz.
Jerelyn Petracco and her family are celebrating Hanukkah without her father, who passed away this year.
“He was the glue to our family. This is our first season without him for the holiday. It’s going to be tough, but it’s going to be different,” Petracco said.
With the candles, the music, and the food, there is so much tradition to carry on from one generation to the next.
Children like Jordana Alpert pick out their very own Menorah.
“I really like being together with the family, and I like services and I like presents,” said Alpert.
Gifts are traditionally given on each night of Hanukkah, often money or gelt, which children can then give to charity.
There is also a game played with a dreidel, created as a way for Jews to study the Torah when it was forbidden.
The Hebrew letters on the top make out an acronym for “great miracle happened there.”
“We light the candles as a family, and we tell a couple of Hanukkah stories from when my grandparents were younger and then my mom. Now I get to do it and my daughter says what is her favorite part of it,” said Petracco.
While Hanukkah is a festive holiday it comes at a time with continued war and unrest in the Middle East.
“There’s still hostages in Gaza. There’s still a war in Gaza. There’s still fighting in and around Lebanon and now Syria. These are all of the places that were in the midst of the upheaval during this time of Hanukkah,” said Birnholz.
Rabbi Birnholz says during this holiday season he hopes everyone can find happiness.
“I really do hope that people, regardless of their culture or tradition they really find those ways of bringing light and love and caring into the world cause our world sure needs it,” Birnholz said.
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