Thank you to the hundreds of people from across the community who joined us this evening for the Community Menorah Lighting & Chanukah Celebration!
It was truly heartwarming, inspiring and encouraging to see so many of you on a cold and frigid night, but with a determination and passion to shine and enjoy the light of Chanukah!
Thank you to the Town of Sudbury leadership, including the Town Manager, the members of the Select Board, State Rep Carmine Gentile, and Chief Nix for your words and messages.
We live in a great town and community, with wonderful leadership who have a true sense of care and understanding.
Seeing and hearing from so many people who weren't from the Jewish community, who told us that they came to learn, listen or simply to stand with us, on this beautiful but very important night, was so uplifting and meaningful.
A huge thank you to the Sudbury, MA Police Department and the Sudbury Department of Public Works for their help in making this event be the safe and secure event that it was! We are very grateful to all of you for your time and efforts each and every day!
As we lit the Menorah and remembered its message, we prayed and thought of our brethren in Israel and of all the hostages who haven't yet returned home, and prayed for a Chanukah miracle for 2023, in which the hostages will be released, and there will be true peace for all mankind, in Israel, the Middle East and all over the world.
There were well over 400 donuts and many many hundreds of Latkes, and there was not a trace of one left, at the end of the evening!!
Thank you to the many volunteers who helped arrange, plan, market, setup, cleanup and do so much more for this event!
On behalf of the Chabad Center of Sudbury and our family as well as the hundreds of people who joined us tonight, we want to give a big thank you to our wonderful and diverse community of Sudbury for coming together to celebrate, and for showing us, that light will always overcome darkness!
SHARING MY REMARKS FROM THE MENORAH LIGHTING EVENT
Happy Chanukah & Chanukah Sameach!
Thank you everyone for coming here today to celebrate the 1st night and light of Chanukah in our glorious and wonderful town and community of Sudbury!
Thank you to all of you for coming out on this cold night, for this very special, important and meaningful moment.
We all know, that the last two months, since Oct 7th and the terrible attacks on Israel, have been no less than a nightmare for us……. We all have family, close friends or simply feel like a family going through a trauma….
We have been shocked and shaken to the core by what happened…..
Thinking, praying and advocating for the return of the hostages to their families, including all of the 138 men, women and children who are still being held hostage, who we will pray for tonight as we light the Menorah we pray for their return, and watching the terrible pain of war and suffering.
And if that wasn’t enough…. the shocking and dramatic rise in antisemitism across the world, in college campuses, on social media and in so many other places, has shaken us even further.
So many asked us over the last few weeks, does it make sense to host a public Chanukah event this year? Should we be afraid, maybe we should lay low…. Maybe we should pass up this year and not gather in public to celebrate.....
But we decided that absolutely never would we cancel this event, and if anything we need to do a bigger event than ever, as perhaps never before has been so important to celebrate the message of Chanukah, in the public square of this great country.
We live in America, a country which is all about Freedom of Religion, Inclusiveness, Great Values and so much More! America has been a place where so many escaping persecution have been able to come and be welcomed with open arms. Where they knew they could come and not have to worry about the antisemitism and other forms of persecution that plagued our grandparents and ancestors.
It WAS and IS a truly great country, and we know that the overwhelming vast majority of people in this country, support good over evil, light over darkness, and are firmly against bigotry against Jews, or against any other minority or population in this country.
On that note, I want to say thank you to the leadership in this town from the Town Manager, to the Select Board Members and of course the one and only Chief Nix, for all the conversations we have had over the last few weeks discussing these issues, and for the tremendous work and support that they have done and shown to the community, during these very difficult weeks.
I also want to say a big thank you to everyone from broader community who has joined us tonight or who have reached out over the last few weeks. What you have done and what you do, means so much more than you can ever imagine to all of us.
Indeed, It is people like yourselves who have given us comfort, hope and so much more in believing in humanity, in our community and in this great country!!!
And now for Chanukah…..
It is all about the light, the miracle of the little flame that wouldn’t extinguish and lasted for 8 days and kept giving light… and it is also the miracle of overcoming persecution that the Greek Assyrian empire was placing on the Jewish people…
We are reminded that being good, doesn’t always mean you are the majority…. Doing the right thing in life, doesn’t always come easy…. And sometimes you have to know how to stand up for yourselves and speak up….
But most importantly we are reminded of the power of light, how one little flame can dispel so much darkness. Not only that, the flame will keep burning and adding its light far more than you can ever imagine.
Today, as we face challenges that we wish we didn’t face, as we think of our loves ones and friends living through so much pain in Israel and elsewhere, in this war that no one wanted or wished for, we pray for peace in the world and an end to evil and suffering of any innocent human being.
At the same time, we are also reminded of our responsibility to keep adding light and remembering the message of the miracle of Chanukah.
Things will turn around, light will always overcome darkness, and our adding light of kindness, good deeds and respect and care to our neighbors and friends and to everyone in the community, whether they think like you or don’t…… will be what helps push away the darkness of this frigid night, the darkness of bigotry and hate.
Let us light the Menorah and celebrate this joyous holiday and message, and pray that Israel, the entire Middle East and the world experiences a Chanukah miracle for 2023, when light, goodness, love and acceptance, will be what prevails over the darkness.
Am Yisroel Chai & Let us Hope that already for the kindling of the second flame of the Menorah, everyone who is being held hostage or suffering, should be able to be reunited with their loved one and celebrate and sing Al Haniism VeAl HANIFLAOT!
You can see lots more pictures of the event over here!
Happy Chanukah & Shabbat Shalom
Yisroel