Speakers played “Hanukkah, oh Hanukkah,” and children ran around in dreidel costumes Sunday night as hundreds flocked to Campus Martius in Detroit to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah, which opened the Festival of Lights by lighting a giant menorah.
The annual Menorah in the D event, which began back in 2011, brings together Jewish leaders and state officials, as well as residents of all faiths in Detroit.
That year, Danny Fenster, a Michigan journalist who recently returned home after six months in prison in military-ruled Myanmar, helped light the candle.
It marks the release of the ancient Jews, the Maccabees, who freed themselves from the oppression of the Greek king Antiochus IV.
Antiochus IV massacred Jews and desecrated the sacred second temple. During the Maccabees’ rebellion and their determination to restore the temple, a small amount of lamp oil, just enough for one night, miraculously lit the temple for eight days and nights, representing hope and the power of light over darkness. The eight candles on the menorah stand for each of the eight nights.
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“It wasn’t an issue that I thought about before the time of my publication and the time of this event, but I think there is this obvious connection with shedding light on the dark in journalism,” Fenster told the Free Press on Sunday . “The things I was arrested for as part of the news organization trying to shed light on a very dark regime seems to me to be obviously true.”
Fenster said he was doing great and was so grateful to be home with his family again.
“I can’t think of a better community to come home to,” he said. “And it just made an already great, joyful situation even more joyful. I just had a lot of love and appreciation at home here in Detroit and the metropolis of Detroit, in the Jewish community and in the wider community. It was just amazing.”
State Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, said Window’s return was a miracle in itself and a symbol of the spirit of Hanukkah.
“This really is a modern wonder when you think about it,” said Moss. “We had this incredibly discouraging and disheartening news one weekend that Danny will be sentenced to many years of hard labor and then wake up just a few days later and learn of his release is a miracle.”
The event to celebrate the much older miracle was streamed both in person and virtually to ensure that everyone who wanted to attend the celebration was able to. The event was carried out in cooperation with the Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit, The Shul and Chabad in D, among others.
At 26 feet high, the menorah rests near the glowing downtown Christmas tree, and their shared lights lit up the park on Sunday evening.
“Each of the eight Hanukkah nights we add another candle – one that creates more and more light,” Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov, vice president of Chabad Lubavitch, Michigan, said in a press release. “Like a burning candle, all you have to do is touch another person with an act of kindness and sincerity and their flame will be lit too. One candle at a time, one soul at a time, the world becomes brighter, warmer place.”
Although anti-Semitism is still rampant around the world, Moss, Michigan’s only senator to the Jewish state, said the menorah lighting was a chance for the Jewish community to celebrate who they are.
“Hanukkah is about your external display of Judaism: we put the menorah in the window, we light the candles so that our neighbors can see them,” said Moss. “Hanukkah is that very public presentation of our religious values and who we are as a community. This public presentation in the middle of the city center, in this very thriving part of the city, is very important for us to share who we are as a community, be proud of who we are as a community, but show that here too we are part of the larger community. “
In addition to the lighting of the menorah, Campus Martius was full of street artists, make-up stations, marshmallow grilling pits and hot apple cider offers on Sunday, among other things.
After the menorah lights went online last year due to the pandemic, David Flaisher was happy to be in person again. He’s gotten to every lighting since it started 10 years ago.
“I like the candlelight,” he said. “Everyone is happy, everyone is in a good mood. You don’t see much of that.”
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Shemtov said the Hanukkah message is not limited to the next eight days and should bring hope all year round.
“When we dismantle and store the physical structure, we become the flames of the menorah and carry its message in our hearts and our communities all year round,” Shemtov said. “It gives us hope when we need it most, and it gives us the tools to become a light to others in need.”
Contact Emma Stein: [email protected].
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