Area menorah lightings make for a bright, festive Hanukkah

By Gary Haber

Hanukkah is known as the “festival of light,” and nowhere does the holiday shine brighter than on Suffolk’s South Shore, where several communities lit their menorahs in public ceremonies last week.

Temple Beth El in Patchogue and the Village of Patchogue Parks & Recreation Department held their annual menorah lighting on Sunday.

The Village of Bellport, Town of Brookhaven, and chambers of commerce in Sayville and Bayport-Blue Point also held menorah lightings marking the eight-night holiday, whose first night this year fell on Christmas for the first time since 2005.

Hanukkah marks the rededication of the Second Temple  in 164 B.C. People mark each night of the holiday by lighting candles in a nine-branched candelabrum. The shamash, or center candle, and the candle farthest to the right, are lit on the first night. One additional candle is lit each of the next seven nights.

More than 30 people, including several village trustees, turned out for Patchogue’s menorah lighting, which took place at Capital One Plaza on Main Street.
People sang Hanukkah songs and enjoyed hot chocolate and jelly donuts provided by the Parks & Recreation Department.

Temple Beth El will celebrate its 120th anniversary in 2025. Holding a visible Hanukkah event downtown on Main Street reminds people that Jews have long been part of the community, synagogue co-president Cheryl Gavin said.

“We want people to know that we’re here,” Gavin said.

The Greater Sayville Chamber of Commerce goes all out for an event that attracts an equal number of Jewish and non-Jewish residents, which it held on Dec. 26.

“It’s my favorite event of the year,” said Eileen Tyznar, the chamber’s administrator and president emeritus. The chamber held its first menorah lighting about 10 years ago.

What started out as a brief lighting of an outdoor menorah has blossomed into a “Hanukkah celebration.”

After Rabbi Shimon Stillerman of Chabad of Islip Township lit the eight-foot-tall candelabrum outside the Chamber House on Lincoln Avenue, everyone went inside for an evening of songs, Hanukkah-themed crafts for youngsters and traditional Hanukkah foods, including potato latkes and jelly donuts, known as sufganiyot.
“They always do a great job, and the Jewish community really appreciates it,” Rabbi Stillerman said.

Tyznar, who isn’t Jewish, organizes the event and makes every effort to make it authentic. She researched the traditional foods served on Hanukkah and makes sure that she serves Kosher food. The latkes come from a Kosher delicatessen and the donuts from a Kosher bakery in Brooklyn.

“I felt it was important that this celebration shouldn’t get lost, that people understand what Hanukkah is all about,” she said.

To Tyznar, the holiday focuses not only on “miracles of the past,” but on “hope for the future.”

She was pleased to hear several youngsters who attended the event talking about how they plan to carry forward the light of Hanukkah by performing acts of kindness.

“It leaves everybody glowing and with a feeling of hope,” she said.