Public Menorahs

It’s Chanukah (sometimes spelled “Hanukkah” and pronounced HAH-new-kah), and you are planning on attending a public menorah lighting. Here’s what you need to know.

It was a frigid Saturday night during Chanukah of 1974, when Rabbi Abraham Shemtov had the unusual, perhaps wild, idea of lighting a menorah right in front of Independence Hall, which houses the Liberty Bell, the icon of American freedom. The menorah was ...

It’s become almost commonplace for hundreds of thousands of people to attend grand public Chanukah menorah lightings in metropolises and in front of statehouses dotting the American landscape. But the first such ceremony, in Philadelphia’s Old City in 197...

This year has in many ways been a difficult one for Jews everywhere. From Poway to Paris, from the streets of Brooklyn to this month’s shooting in Jersey City, the specter of anti-Semitism has reared its head. Still, wherever in the world the Jewish peopl...

Now, isn’t the mitzvah just to light the menorah at home? So why were the blessings recited at the public ceremony?

Both the Mitzvah tanks and the Menorahs brought Jewish observances to the fore of public consciousness in a very visible way.

I recalled vaguely that there had been some Nashvillians visiting in Mumbai at the Oberoi restaurant, caught in the crossfire of terror. I tried to call one of them to invite her to our Menorah lighting.

Take a tour around the globe with Chabad-Lubavitch public menorah lightings

Browse hundreds of listings of Chanukah events in tens of countries. Find an event near you, and celebrate hanukkah with friends. Featuring public menorah lightings, parties, workshops, and more...