SAN ANGELO, Texas — Sunday, Dec. 18, is the first night of Hanukkah, a holiday celebrated by Jewish people around the world for eight days in November-December, depending on where it falls on the Jewish calendar.
San Angelo’s only Jewish synagogue is inviting the community to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah with its first-ever Hanukkah Festival and community menorah lighting from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 18, at Congregation Beth Israel, 1825 W. Beauregard Ave.
Hanukkah is known as the “Festival of Lights,” as candles are lit each night for eight nights to remember the miracle of a day’s supply of oil lasting for eight nights after the Jewish temple was destroyed in Jerusalem in approximately 165 B.C.E.
The holiday also commemorates religious freedom, as the holiday celebrates the victory of the Maccabees over the much larger Syrian army.
At the San Angelo event, congregation members will read Hanukkah stories, spin dreidels, play games, try some Israeli dancing, offer tours of the synagogue with a short history lesson and talk about the meaning of the holiday, which is a minor holiday on the Jewish calendar, but well known because of where it falls on the calendar.
At 6 p.m., there will be singing of blessings for the candles and light the first candles on the Hanukkah menorah on the synagogue’s front lawn, as well as Hanukkah songs.
