Photo by Mark M. Murray / The RepublicanRabbi Chaim A. Kosofsky checks the first light on the menorah during the lighting ceremony Friday afternoon at Court Square, marking the first night of Hanukkah.
SPRINGFIELD – It took numerous attempts with a blowtorch, but Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and Rabbi Chaim A. Kosofsky were finally successful Friday afternoon in lighting the first candle on the menorah at Court Square that symbolizes the first night of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights.
Lighting the candles was made difficult by a chilly wind that blew throughout a ceremony attended by local officials and about 30 students from the Lubavicher Yeshiva Academy in Longmeadow.
“A little light dispels much darkness,” Kosofsky said during the ceremony.
Hanukkah commemorates the retaking of the Temple from by the Maccabees from the Syrians in 162 B.C. Although the Jews rededicating it had only enough oil for one light, they were able to miraculously keep lighting one candle a night for seven more days. Like their forefathers, local Jewish people will keep with tradition and light one candle a night at the Court Square menorah to symbolize the eight days of Hanukkah.
Kosofsky praised the city for allowing the tradition, which dates back about 25 years. Hanukkah is a time to bring light and holiness together, he said.
Sarno wished the children a happy Hanukkah and told them he liked it that some Jewish religious music played during the ceremony had a rap beat.
“They persevered and they won,” Sarno said of the Maccabees. “Sometimes to see light you have to go through darkness.”
