Irena Geister calls it a family tradition. Every year, the mother of four from Northbrook, Ill., takes her little ones to the local Home Depot, where they craft their own menorahs out of wood, glue and other supplies graciously provided by the hardware giant.
That store—in Deerfield, Ill.—is one of several dozen Home Depots that host menorah-building sessions in partnership with Chabad in places like El Paso, Texas; and Bellingham, Mass.
“I enjoy working with Chabad on this and am already looking forward to this year,” says Leo Delgado, who manages the Home Depot where Geister’s children will join hundreds of others in the cabinet aisle for their annual Chanukah crafting session. “I’m not Jewish, so I did not even know what a menorah was; this has been a real learning experience—and it feels good doing something for the community.”
“People get a kick out of it, and the store is a neutral space where those who may feel intimidated about entering a synagogue are comfortable to come and do something Jewish,” says Rabbi Levi Landa of Chabad of Greater St. Louis, who has been co-hosting a menorah workshop at Home Depot since 2008, after he heard of a similar event in Toronto, Canada.
Landa says the workshop has expanded into a mini-Chanukah fair, replete with “Count the Dreidels in the Jar” competitions, fresh complimentary latkes, olive-oil pressing demonstrations, photo ops with “Judah the Maccabee” and educational exhibits.
“It just gets bigger and bigger every year,” he says. “I create an event on Facebook and invite a few hundred guests, and before I turn around, there are hundreds more—people are inviting their friends. We had 350-plus parents and grandparents last year. It is a yearly tradition that people look forward to. The workshop has become part of the Jewish experience for a broad cross-section of the community. I know a girl who comes ever year and makes another menorah—she displays all five menorahs in her bedroom.”
Meeting at the Malls
Meanwhile, in shopping malls across the world, Chanukah menorah-lighting celebrations have become de rigueur, in part due to a decision by the Westfield Group—which owns 99 shopping malls in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom—to partner with local Jewish communities, hosting and even covering the expense of these celebrations as part of their operating budget.
“Shopping malls are where everyone is at this time of year, especially in the colder climates, and this brings the Chanukah message of light over darkness to an unprecedented amount of people,” says Rabbi Levi Wolff, rabbi of the Central Synagogue in Sydney, Australia, where the shopping conglomerate’s chairman Frank Lowy and his family have longstanding ties.
Included as part of these events are music, dancing and often live entertainment for the kids, plus free sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts),dreidels and menorah kits.
What began as a limited program in Sydney—with celebrations in two Westfield centers—went global.
“They realized that their business was uniquely placed to share Chanukah with people all over the world, and they embraced the opportunity,” says Wolff.
Westfield’s co-CEO, Steven M. Lowy, says “it’s been an honor to be able to help bring the light of Chanukah to thousands of people throughout the world through our shopping centers.”
To date, more than 30 such partnerships have been created, and organizers expect an even larger number this year.
A Storied Past
But numbers aren’t everything.
In Peoria, Ill., around a dozen pajama-clad children annually gather in the city’s only Barnes & Noble bookstore for a Chanukah bedtime story. “There are probably under 30 Jewish children in the area,” according to Rabbi Eli Langsam of the Chabad Jewish Center, “so this is really a community event for us.”
The reading is arranged by Sarah Langsam, who co-founded the Chabad Jewish Center in 2001 with her husband. “I make sure to select holiday-themed books that I know the children will enjoy and also impart the values we want them to walk home with,” she explains. “And, of course, if the reading is on Chanukah, we make sure to light the menorah as well.”
Chanukah is an eight-day holiday that commemorates the victory in 139 BCE of the Maccabees, a small Judean rebel group, over the Syrian-Greeks, who had overrun the Holy Land and attempted to impose their pagan culture and beliefs onto the Jewish people. Upon entering the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, the Maccabees found only one jar of pure oil with which to kindle the menorah in the sanctuary. Miraculously, it burned for eight days.
The sages instituted that an increasing number of flames be lit every evening of the holiday to remember the miraculous turn of events.
In the 1970s, Chabad centers across the globe began holding Chanukah menorah-lightings in public places, such as government buildings and shopping malls, bringing the Festival of Lights to communities everywhere.
And that light, publically or privately, can indeed travel far.
“After we made our menorahs at Home Depot last year,” relates Geister, they packed up their new crafts and “went on vacation to Mexico. And, of course, we lit them there.”
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