Children pick up chocolate gold coins during the traditional gelt drop during the Hanukkah celebration.

CRANBERRY TWP — Lighting four of the nine branches on a menorah in front of the Cranberry Township Municipal Center, Rabbi Yossi Feller recounted the significance of Hanukkah.

Yes, it's a holiday commemorating the Maccabean Jews' rededication of the ancient Temple of Jerusalem following the shedding of their Greek-Syrian oppressors. But, Feller said, it has universal significance regardless of religion.

“Hanukkah is the holiday that we celebrate the victory of light over darkness and truth over the opposite,” he said after the lighting.

And the triumph of light was commemorated Tuesday in Cranberry on the third night of Hanukkah, with the shamash and three hanukkiah branches lighted, children picking up chocolate coins as part of the gelt drop and attendees eating latkes and doughnuts and drinking hot beverages.

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Cranberry Township Menorah. Seb Foltz/Butler Eagle 11/20/21

Rabbi Yossi Feller lights the torches on the menorah during Cranberry Township’s Hanukkah celebration Tuesday.PHOTOGRAPHY BY Seb Foltz/Butler Eagle