Amid heightened security after the weekend’s mass killing at a Hanukkah event in Australia, free public menorah lightings to mark the second night of the Jewish festival are set for Tuesday night in Beverly Hills, Culver City and Santa Monica.
The events come with the LAPD and L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, as well as local agencies including the Beverly Hills and Santa Monica police, promising extra patrols at Jewish facilities, schools, synagogues and Hanukkah events — and police also urging local religious institutions to review their own security protocols.
In Beverly Hills, a menorah-lighting ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Beverly Gardens Park Lily Pond in Beverly Hills with Mayor Sharona R. Nazarian set to speak.
In Culver City, the second of a series of four free public menorah lightings will begin at 5 p.m. at Platform LA and feature hundreds of pieces of chocolate “gelt” raining down from a Culver City Fire Department truck, according to Jewish Community of Culver City-Chabad, which is organizing the event and other Hanukkah events in Culver City. The event will also include latkes, doughnuts, craft-making and a raffle.
Additional menorah lightings in Culver City will be held Monday at 5 p.m. at Platform LA; Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Ivy Station; and Wednesday at 7 p.m. at The Shay Hotel.
In Santa Monica, nightly menorah lightings at 5 p.m. in the 1400 block of the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica will continue Monday. Once the Jews defeated the Hellenist Syrian forces of Antiochus IV in 165 B.C. at the end of a three-year rebellion, the temple in Jerusalem, which the occupiers had dedicated to the worship of Zeus, was rededicated by Judah Maccabee, who led the insurgency begun by his father, the high priest Mattathias.
According to the story of Hanukkah, Maccabee and his soldiers wanted to light the temple’s ceremonial lamp with ritually pure olive oil as part of their rededication but found only enough oil to burn for one day. The oil, however, burned for eight days in what was considered to be a miracle.
Hanukkah — which means “dedication” in Hebrew — is observed around the world by lighting candles in a special menorah called a Hanukkiah each day at sundown for eight days, with an additional candle added each day.
The reason for the lights is so passersby should see them and be reminded of the holiday’s miracle.
Other Hanukkah traditions include spinning a dreidel, a four-sided top, which partially commemorates a game that Jews under Greek domination are believed to have played to camouflage their Torah study, and eating foods fried in oil, such as latkes, pancakes of grated raw potatoes and jelly doughnuts.
Children receive Hanukkah “gelt” (the Yiddish word for money) from parents and grandparents. The tradition originated with 17th-century Polish Jews giving money to their children to give their teachers during Hanukkah, which led to parents also giving children money.
In the United States, the practice has evolved into giving holiday gifts to children and others.