Menorah at Kennesaw State University For First Time
From News Releases
Jewish students at Kennesaw State are getting ready for the Chanukah holiday season by distributing free Chanukah kits to hundreds of Jewish students at Kennesaw State. These ready-to-go kits include a Menorah, candles, dreidel and holiday “how-to” guide. At Kennesaw State they will be available for pick-up at the Chabad House, and will also be distributed on Monday in front of the Menorah on the Campus Green.
This initiative is sponsored by Chabad Jewish Student Center at KSU, as part of their holiday awareness campaign.
In launching the Chanukah campaign at Kennesaw State, Rabbi Zalman Charytan, of the Chabad Center, said, “Many students who are away from home during the holiday season experience a sense of isolation. Our goal is to make them feel involved, to strengthen pride in their Jewish heritage and to encourage them to revel in the holiday of Chanukah.”
During the eight-day festival, which begins this year on Sunday evening, December 6, Chabad will be holding a public menorah lighting and festive celebrations on campus.
“It’s easy for Jewish students to feel disconnected in the flurry of holiday celebrations around campus. Chabad is so important because it really imbues the campus with a lot of Chanukah spirit. The public Menorah lighting and events like these provide a sense of solidarity and pride among us,” remarked one student, Matthew Prater ‘17. “The public Menorah display also serves as a reminder to us of how fortunate we are, in this great country, to be able to enjoy the freedom of religious expression.”
Rabbi Zalman Charytan added, “Among other messages, the Menorah is a symbol of our university’s dedication to preserve and encourage the right and liberty of all its citizens to worship G-d freely, openly, and with pride. Especially in America, a nation that was founded upon and vigorously protects the right of every person to practice his or her religion free from restraint and persecution, the Menorah takes on profound significance, embodying both religious and constitutional principles.”
Beginning on the first Chanukah eve, Sunday, December 6, and extending through Monday, December 14, Chabad at will be helping to make the holiday’s universal message of religious freedom tangibly accessible to its students. A Nine Foot Menorah will be placed on the Campus Green in front of the Student Center. On the second evening of Chanukah, Monday December 7th, a candle lighting ceremony will take place at 4:45 p.m. In attendance will be numerous university officials and staff including Dr. Ken Harmon, the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs who will deliver remarks on behalf of the University. Also in attendance will be The Honorable Sam Olens, State of Georgia Attorney General. The ceremony will also feature the lighting of the nine foot Menorah, hot latkes, donuts, dreidels and Gelt.
According to Rabbi Zalman Charytan, the Menorah shares a universal message to the university-at-large, “The eternal message of the Menorah lights has attained particular significance in light of current world events where the forces of oppression and darkness are ever-present. As we experience additional countries and entire regions being freed of their oppressors, we relive the experience of Chanukah in our very own times. It is the story of a little light pushing away an empire of darkness, human sensibility defying terror and brute force, life and growth overcoming destruction.”
Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, recalls the victory more than 2,000 years ago of a militarily weak but spiritually strong Jewish people, over the mighty forces of a ruthless enemy that had overrun ancient Israel and sought to impose restrictions on the Jewish way of life, prohibit religious freedom and force the Jewish people to accept a foreign religion. During the occupation of Jerusalem and the Temple, the Syrian Greeks desecrated and defiled the oils prepared for the lighting of the Menorah, which was part of the daily service in the temple, and rendered them unfit for use. Upon recapturing the Temple, the Jewish people found one lone jar of undefiled oil, enough to burn only one day, but it lasted miraculously for eight days until new, pure olive oil was produced. Ever since, in commemoration of this event, the Jewish people celebrate Chanukah for eight days by lighting an eight-branched candelabra known as a Menorah.
The Menorah is placed on a window or a doorpost facing the outside in order to publicize its message of hope and religious freedom, to all.
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EVENT RECAP:
What: KSU Menorah Lighting
Where: The Campus Green
When: Monday, December 7th at 4:45 p.m.
Cost: No Charge
ABOUT CHANUKAH
Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, recalls the victory more than 2,100 years ago of a militarily weak but spiritually strong Jewish people who defeated a ruthless enemy that had overrun ancient Israel and sought to impose restrictions on the Jewish way of life, prohibit religious freedom and force the Jewish people to accept a foreign religion. During the occupation of Jerusalem and the Temple, the Syrian Greeks desecrated and defiled the oils prepared for the lighting of the Menorah, which was part of the daily service in the temple. Upon recapturing the Temple from the Syrian Greeks, the Jewish people found only one jar of undefiled oil, enough to burn only one day, but it lasted miraculously for eight days until new, pure olive oil was produced. In commemoration of this event, the Jewish people celebrate Chanukah for eight days by lighting an eight-branched candelabra known as a Menorah. The Menorah is placed in highly-visible place to publicize the miracle, with its message of hope and religious freedom, to all. Today, people of all faiths consider the Chanukah holiday as a symbol and message of the triumph of freedom over oppression, of spirit over matter, of light over darkness.
