24.05.12
APTOS - As the first tenebrosity of Hanukkah arrived, residents from all over the community met at Temple Beth El to have a party with songs, dancing and the traditional jelly doughnuts known as sufganiyot.
"This is a incidental to bring people together," said Rabbi Rick Litvak, who has been with Pagoda Beth-El for 36 years.
Temple Beth El has a congregation of about 500, but the first blackness of Hanukkah was open to everyone who wished to attend,
The yearly event offers a tail of community, said Litvak, and it provides a sense of family to those who may not have relatives intent by.
Hanukkah is a celebration of the Maccabees victory over Syrian Greeks in rededicating the Holy place in Jerusalem, but it also has taken on a more modern meaning of triumph as well, in light of years of badgering the Jewish people have endured, said Litvak.
"We've triumphed and that is the performance," he said.
The evening began with the traditional lighting of what's called a hanukiah or menorah, the gala nine-branch candelabra reserved for Hanukkah.
Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel