A crowd of more than 100 showed up Monday at Main Plaza to join in celebrating the Festival of Lights on the fifth day of Chanukah.
Boerne Mayor Pro Tem Ty Wolosin lit the Shamash, the center candle on the large menorah set up in front of the band shell, as Rabbi Yossi Marrus welcomed the crowd, explained the tradition behind Chanukah and the lighting of the menorah, and asked for prayers of peace and tolerance during troubled times in the Middle East.
“The message of Chanukah is to kindle the light of tolerance. To be respectful of others. To understand that it’s OK for people to be different,” Marrus said. “In fact, this great country, the United States of America, is founded on those very principles — that it’s wonderful when different people come together.”
Hanukkah, which means “dedication,” is the festival that commemorates the purification and rededication of the temple following the Greek occupation of that holy place.
In the year 168, Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes sent his soldiers to Jerusalem. The Syrians desecrated the temple, the holiest place for Jews at that time. Antiochus also abolished Judaism, outlawing the observance of Shabbat and the festivals.
Altars and idols were set up for the worship of Greek gods, and the king offered Jews two options: conversion or death.
According to the legend, when the Maccabees entered the temple and began to reclaim it from the Greeks, they immediately relit the “ner tamid” — the “eternal light” — which burned constantly in the temple.
The Maccabees could find only a single jar of oil, which was sufficient for only one day. The messenger who was sent to secure additional oil took eight days to complete his mission, and miraculously, the single jar of oil continued to burn until his return.
The rabbis attributed the eight days of Hanukkah to the miracle of the single jar of oil.
Marrus asked the audience to join him in silent prayer for the safe return of hostages taken by members of Hamas during its bloody Oct. 7 attack on Israeli homes and villages.
“In today’s day and age, with everything going on in Israel, I would be remiss if we didn’t take a moment to offer prayers and hopes for a better tomorrow,” the rabbi said. “We want, and we pray, that the 136 hostages that are still there, come home now, come home in peace to their loving families, whose lives have been completely uprooted.
“It’s all because of hate, and it needs to stop,” he said, adding, “We pray for the end of all wars, we pray that all people should get along.”
“Boerne was founded by Freethinkers,” Wolosin said before lighting the Shamash, the center candle on the menorah used to light the other candles. “We like to think, in our community, that we still bring that forward, a community that embraces all in order to build a better community.”
U.S. Army Chaplain Mendy Stern, a native of Israel and the Jewish chaplain at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, then lit the five candles of the menorah that signified the days that had passed since Chanukah began December 7.
Marrus led the crowd in singing the blessings associated with Chanukah and the lighting of the menorah. Volunteers served sufganiyot, which are fried jelly doughnuts, while the band The Pertnears (Chism Mills on fiddle, Rob Lewis on mandolin, Elliot Moler on bass and Yonatan Krigel on guitar), provided Jewish songs from the band shell.
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