Nanaimo celebrates first night of Chanukah
Hundreds of people from Nanaimo’s Jewish community marked the first night of Chanukah with the lighting of a giant Menorah at Maffeo Sutton Park on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. Photo: Mick Sweetman / CHLY 101.7FM.
Listen to CHLY’s full report below:
Nanaimo’s Jewish community marked the first night of Chanukah with the lighting of a giant Menorah at Maffeo Sutton Park.
Organized by the Chabad of Nanaimo the annual event attracted hundreds of people to mark the start of the holiday celebrating the triumph of light over darkness. Historically, it also marks the victory of the Jewish rebels known as the Maccabees over the Greek emperor Antiochus between 167-160 BCE.
Rabbi Bentzi Shemtov says that the public celebration of Chanukah is important for the community.
Dressed in a dreidel costume, Brandon Macauley hands out chocolate coins to children at the Chanukah celebration on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. Photo: Mick Sweetman / CHLY 101.7FM
“The holiday is all about light, freedom,” he said. “That's what we celebrate on this holiday, the holiday of freedom over light over darkness, and to be able to come out into the streets in the open and light those candles the first night knowing that tomorrow night's going to be two nights, two candles. It's really good.”
Rabbi Shemtov thanked a small number of RCMP officers who attended the event for helping the crowd feel safer amidst a number of antisemitic incidents in Canada.
“RCMP’s always been very helpful whenever we need it,” Shemtov said. “But now specifically with current events they're keeping an eye on making sure things are safe and supporting us, which we're very thankful for.”
RCMP at the event said there was no specific threat and that they were there to support the community and ensure public safety.
Rabbi Shemtov says that he understands why some Jews may be hesitant to put a Menorah in the window this year.
“Some people are hesitant and hiding a little bit and some people are specifically putting it out into the window even more,” he said. “I understand people that are scared but ultimately we can’t do that to ourselves. We can't hide because hiding isn't going to help anyone. We are who we are. We're not going to change and we have the right to exist. We have the right to celebrate our holidays.”
Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog lit the Shamash, or the ninth candle on the Menorah that all other candles are lit from.
“I think it's important that in this city, we celebrate the rights of everyone to practice their faith, to do so with the support of the whole community, and to recognize that we are all lucky to be here, that this is still the peaceable kingdom, that the rise of Islamophobia and antisemitism that we're seeing right now is disturbing,” he said
“It's un-Canadian, but I have faith that it won't go beyond this, that people can learn as every generation of Canadians has to try and live together in peace and to build a country that everyone wants to come to.”
Local NDP MLA Sheila Malcomson was also at the event representing the provincial government.
“In this year of all years, where the Jewish community is frightened by the rise in antisemitism by new terrible stories that have happened in their homeland, it's especially important for all of us to stand up,” she said. “I don't have any illusion about Nanaimo or British Columbia's ability to bring peace to the Middle East. But we do stand as a provincial government against hate, for the protection of people's ability to practice their faith and to tackle racism in every form.”
Malcomson says that the NDP government's recent steps to make Holocaust education mandatory and provide funding for religious and cultural organizations to beef up security is “an important way for us to walk our talk.”
The Chabad of Nanaimo and Central Vancouver Island will hold another Menorah lighting at Courtenay City Hall on Sunday, Dec. 10 at 3:30 p.m.
Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.