While menorah-lighting ceremonies in Dizengoff Square in downtown Tel Aviv have been a familiar Chanukah scene for the last 35 years, a thousand dreidels spinning simultaneously at nearby Rabin Square has been a rather new development.
An enormous crowd of local residents, visiting Israelis and guests from around the globe set a Guinness World Record on Wednesday night when 2,000 people simultaneously spun dreidels.
Adults and children, wrapped warmly in the evening air, positioned themselves at long wooden tables for the attempted feat. The end goal: The dreidels had to spin for at least 10 seconds simultaneously, which they did.
And Merkaz (Central) Chabad Lubavitch Tel Aviv didn’t stop there.
The menorah lit that evening at Rabin Square, just blocks away from Dizengoff Square, is the tallest one erected in Israel to date, measuring 9.5 meters high—the highest height that is kosher. (According to Jewish law, the menorah is disqualified if it is more than 20 cubits, or approximately 10 meters. This one is just shy of that, according to rabbis who helped organize the event.)
Like the 100 other public menorahs in the city, it will be lit all eight days of the holiday.
Entertainment included a fire-juggling show, live acrobatics, a boys’ school choir, and refreshments like sufganiyot (jelly donuts) and chocolate-coin gelt.
Before the lighting of the menorah, Rabbi Yossi Gerlitzky, head Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Tel Aviv and director of Merkaz Chabad, addressed those assembled, highlighting the spiritual revolution that the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—initiated through public menorah-lightings. Indeed, he said, they spark unity among all people and foster Jewish pride worldwide.
Master of ceremonies Rabbi Shaul Raices, director of Chabad’s Kollel there, spoke of the added significance of the event taking place in the Hakhel year, when Jewish men, women and children make extra efforts to gather together, both socially and to concentrate on Torah study.
‘We Are Very Calm’
This was just one of many Chanukah events run by Chabad of Tel Aviv over the course of the holiday.
On a more somber note, a menorah has been placed and lit at the scene of a Nov. 19 terror attack on worshippers leaving afternoon services from a Tel Aviv office building on Ben-Tzvi Street. Two men—Aharon Yisayev, 32, from Holon; and Reuven Aviram, 51, from Ramle—were slain by a Palestinian worker.
Attendance at the nightly menorah-lighting in the Dizengoff Square can range from hundreds to more than 1,000 locals and tourists. Celebrities from the nearby Habimah Theater have been known to wander over and join in the festivities. This year, Israeli actor and director Tzvi Shissel was said to have stopped by.
U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro was scheduled to light the menorah on the first night of Chanukah there, but at the last minute had to travel to Washington, D.C., to help prepare for Israeli President Reuven Rivlin’s Wednesday meeting with President Barack Obama in the White House. Shapiro arranged to have Geoffrey Anisman, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Israel, attend the event and offer greetings from President Obama to those assembled in Tel Aviv.
Ofir Okunis, Israel’s Minister of Science, Technology and Space, lit the menorah at Dizengoff Square on the second night of the holiday, when he declared that “Chabad are the Chanukah lights of the world; they light up the world.” Avigdor Kahalani, a former Israeli soldier and politician, had the honor on the fifth night. He announced to all those present: “Chabad lights up and warms the hearts of the Jewish people.”
When asked about security concerns due to a spate of recent terror attacks, Rabbi Gerlitzky responded: “Obviously, security awareness this year plays a big role, but we are very calm. We are going ahead with plans as if there is no terrorism, confident that since we are carrying out the will and request of the Rebbe by doing a mitzvah, nothing will go wrong.”
For Chanukah information—including locating public menorah-lightings—inspiration, recipes, events for the whole family and more, visit the Chabad.org Chanukah 2015 page here.
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