Rabbi: 'We can light up the world around us'
CRANBERRY TWP — It was the eighth day of Hanukkah — a significant day in the Jewish faith — as nine candles on the oversized menorah were lit on a windy Tuesday night by a group of community leaders.
The number eight is considered to be special or supernatural in the Jewish faith, said Rabbi Ely Rosenfeld of the Chabad of Butler County.
Just like the nine arms of the menorah getting lit one light at a time each night of the holiday, things worth having take time and effort, he said.
“That big light at the top happens with small baby steps,” Rosenfeld said. “The truth is that is the entire story of Hanukkah.”
It is the fifth year that people gathered in front of the township municipal building to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Lights.
The event was sponsored by Chabad of Butler County and the Cranberry Jewish Community Association.
Hanukkah marks the duration of the menorah flame after the Jews fought off oppression from the Syrian-Greeks in Jerusalem, Rosenfeld said.
When they sought to relight the Jerusalem temple's menorah, a small vessel of lamp oil was found, but with only enough oil to keep the menorah lit for a single day, according to the township website.
Somehow, though, the oil burned for eight days, leaving just enough time for new oil to be prepared.
“In order for that miracle to happen, people had to stand up for what they believed in,” Rosenfeld said.
“In order to create a situation so miracles can happen, we have to make those situations happen ourselves by getting up out of our beds and doing the hard heavy lifting …
“We can light up the world around us. We don't have to wait for miracles to bonk us on the head.”
Rosenfeld lit the first candle on the menorah and gave a blessing. Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer, leader of the Congregation B'nai Abraham in Butler, lit the second candle.
“I think it's important that there are events like this here,” Gray-Schaffer said. “I have met different people already tonight that I wouldn't know otherwise.”
A special guest that traveled from Kosovo lit one of the candles as well. Enisa Muhaxhiri, 17, is an exchange student living with the Grant family in Zelienople for a month.
She was interested in learning more about Judaism while she was in the area. In Kosovo, Catholicism and Islam are the two major religions, Enisa said.
“I come from a very religious country, so I wanted to learn more about this,” she said. “The experience was really amazing.”
About 75 people, both Jewish and non-Jewish, attended the event to watch the 9-foot-tall menorah lit by a slew of local celebrities and enjoy entertainment and refreshments indoors afterward.
“We're very fortunate to have a Jewish community in Butler,” said Jack Cohen, event organizer. “Thank you all for coming and meeting your neighbors.”
