nothin Hanukkah Light Spread | New Haven Independent

Hanukkah Light Spread

Paul Bass Photo

The menorah on the Green fully lit for a test Tuesday evening before it was extinguished and the first candle lit.

Stacey Battat is spreading the light of Hanukkah in our community — which isn’t as simple a proposition as it sounds.

The eight-day Jewish festival, which began at sundown Tuesday, is about more than rolling dreidels, eating latkes and donuts (sufganiyot), or celebrating the rededication of the desecrated temple in the second century BCE after the Maccabees’ victory over the Syrian Greeks. Or celebrating an alleged miracle” of one day’s worth of oil lasting to light the temple’s menorah eight days.

Here in America, the holiday poses challenges to Jews. A minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, it has assumed greater prominence here because of efforts to compete with the inescapable commercialism of Christmas. Jews wrestle with how to mark the holiday: Indulge in over-the-top gift-giving? Light menorahs not just in our homes and synagogues, but in public spaces alongside Christmas trees?

And in modern times, the holiday’s underlying story challenges Jews to wrestle with questions of assimilation and extremism. The Maccabees successfully fought a war not just against Syrian Greek oppressors, but with other Jews who preferred to assimilate. They struck a blow for preserving our traditions. Then they proceeded to rule viciously and oppress their own people, reflecting the ongoing dangers of sectarian infighting and fundamentalism.

Stacey Battat at WNHH.

Against that backdrop, Battat — who runs the PJ Library program for the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven — works to bring the light of the holiday, the opportunity to join that celebration, to Jews and sort-of-Jews and interested non-Jews who don’t already light menorahs and sing and revisit the story in their own homes or synagogues.

Tuesday night she organized a book-reading at Westville’s Mitchell Library and a ceremonial menorah lighting and food- and song-filled celebration at the corner of Whalley Avenue and Blake Street. (Read about that here.)

(Click on the above video to watch Battat and Shoshanna Zax of Congregation Beth El Keser Israel lead a crowd in chanting Hannukah blessings at that event.)

This Sunday, Battat will read Hanukkah stories at repeated events at the Barnes and Noble in Milford (1375 Boston Post Rd.). Cantor Malachi Kanfer and Rabbis Alvin Wainhaus and Michael Farbman will lead the singing of Hanukkah tunes, all amid the bustle of Christmas-season shopping. The sessions begin at 10 a.m. and 12, 2, 3:30 & 5:30 p.m.

And this coming Monday, she has organized a celebration of a communal miracle — the rededication, or reopening, of the Jewish Community Center on Amity Road after last December’s fire. The event starts at 5:30 p.m. and includes a DJ, dreidel games, latkes, and prizes.

Battat spoke about her holiday mission, and read a holiday book on an episode of WNHH FM’s Chai Haven” program.

Click on or download the above audio file or the Facebook Live video below to hear the full episode.

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