As tiny lights strung on trees cut through the darkness Dec. 16 at Skokie’s memorial park at Krier Plaza, a band of celebrants lit one more light: a Hanukkah candle on a menorah.
Organizers highlighted the ceremonial nature of light in the darkness and also mourned the 15 people killed at a Hanukkah event in Bondi Beach, Australia about two days prior. They also tried to respectfully balance that with providing some delight to children, as Hanukkah is traditionally a festive, family-oriented holiday.
Activities included the candle lighting, Skokie Mayor Ann Tennes flipping a switch to light an electric menorah, the distribution of latkes (hot potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (fried donuts), a fire dancer and a gelt (chocolate disks wrapped in foil to look like gold coins) drop.
Rabbi Yochanan Posner of Lubavitch Chabad of Skokie noted the event was historic because it was the first time Mayor Ann Tennes, who was elected in the spring, officiated.
Skokie mayors have been participating in menorah lighting ceremonies with Lubavitch Chabad of Skokie and generations of Rabbis Posner for about four decades, starting with Mayor Al Smith and continuing with Mayor George Van Dusen, he noted. His father is Rabbi Yosef Posner.
Reflecting on the massacre in Bondi Beach, Australia, Posner noted that as a Chabad rabbi, he takes it very personally. The Skokie menorah lighting is one of eight public events he will be doing this year, including seven more at Westfield Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie.
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“These terrorists killed my colleagues in Australia,” he said. “My friend’s son is among the injured. But beyond that they are aiming squarely for me, a Chabad rabbi who lights the menorah in public.
“They know what the menorah represents, and they don’t like it and they tried to kill it. The menorah represents the right of all people to worship in the way they see fit.”
He called the Bondi Beach shooters extremists who believe in using violence to advance their absolutist goals of religious domination.
“The message and motive of the Bondi Beach shooters is the exact opposite of the meaning and motif of the Hanukkah menorah…” he said, adding that its message of religious freedom is relevant now more than ever.
“Hanukkah teaches something uncomfortable but true. Light does not negotiate with darkness,” he said. “Light does not ask permission. It appears. And by existing, it exposes what darkness really is.”
He also thanked the Skokie police for providing security for the event.