Hanukkah celebrated with Menorah Lighting Ceremony

 

 

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — Over two-dozen people came together to celebrate Hanukkah during the annual Menorah Lighting Ceremony on the Town Common on New Year’s Eve.

The Chabad of the North Shore hosted the Menorah Lighting Ceremony on the Town Common once again. Rabbi Yossi Lipsker, who is the regional director of the Chabad of the North Shore, thanked the 25 attendees for coming to the ceremony.

“We have seven permanent centers on the North Shore, and we have a large staff of people who go out and are doing menorahs every night,” said Rabbi Lipsker. “Lynnfield has a very special place in my heart. I started this about 13 years ago. I try to come back every year and celebrate Hanukkah with my Lynnfield friends.”

Assistant Town Administrator Bob Curtin thanked all of the attendees for coming to the Menorah Lighting Ceremony.

“I want to thank you all for coming tonight,” said Curtin. “I know a lot of people are busy tonight, but it’s important that people come to this ceremony. I am happy to be here.”

Police Chief Nick Secatore agreed.

“Thank you for having us,” said Secatore. “We have come every year that we have been invited. Most of the shift is here, and we appreciate the invite.”

Select Board Chair Dick Dalton wished all of the ceremony’s attendees a Happy Hanukkah.

“On behalf of the Lynnfield Select Board, I would like to wish all of my Jewish friends and neighbors a Happy Hanukkah,” said Dalton. “And personally, I wish you all a peaceful year and that we see a reversal in the anti-Semitism that has unfortunately been on the rise of late. I wish peace and joy for all of you this coming year.”

 

 

Town Administrator Rob Dolan concurred with Dalton’s sentiment.

“Thank you all for coming,” said Dolan. “Happy Hanukkah.”

Rabbi Lipsker asked the ceremony’s attendees if they wanted to offer any remarks. The Book family wished the ceremony’s attendees a Happy Hanukkah.

Fernway resident Rachel Zalvan said it was an honor for her and her dog, Remy, to attend the ceremony.

“Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year,” said Zalvan. “I’m glad to see my neighbors and friends here. I appreciate it.”

A couple who has lived in town for 40 years thanked Rabbi Lipsker and the Chabad of the North Shore for hosting the Menorah Lighting Ceremony once again.

Rabbi Lipsker led attendees while singing and performing “Oseh Shalom” and “Hinay Ma Tov” on acoustic guitar.

 

 

“It is wonderful and delightful when brothers and sisters connect in a meaningful way,” said Rabbi Lipsker. “Hanukkah has a particularistic aspect to it. It is very much a holiday that is infused with the universal themes of light, human brotherhood, hope, the triumph of goodness over evil, the triumph of hope over despair, kindness over indifference, joy over sadness and positivity over pessimism. We all pray on those themes and we all yearn for the freedoms that people deserve to be themselves without hatred and without fear. I believe we have a lot of work to do in our society. We have come pretty far, but sadly we are struggling with a lot of that hatred again. I think Hanukkah could not have come at a better time in the sense that it offers a positive message that the goodness that people see in one another ultimately prevails over senseless hatred.”

Rabbi Lipsker also gave a history lesson about how Hanukkah celebrations originated.

“Rabbis were debating the exact format of how to celebrate the miracle of the eight nights of Hanukkah,” said Rabbi Lipsker. “It was pretty clear that there would be eight nights of Hanukkah. There was no controversy about that. The controversy was how to celebrate it. There were two very different approaches. One was to light eight candles on the first night of Hanukkah because there were eight days of Hanukkah. And on the next, we would light seven because there were seven days left. And on the last night of Hanukkah, we would light one candle. We of course didn’t follow that opinion.”

Rabbi Lipsker said rabbis ultimately decided that people should light one menorah candle nightly on each of the eight days of Hanukkah.

“The beauty of it is it has a powerful message of how we look at spirituality in our lives and how we accept the status quo for achieving a sense of holiness and a sense of connection to holiness,” said Rabbi Lipsker. “The message is very clear. When it comes to light and all of the goodness associated with light, we can want more. We need to want more goodness of that sort, so we increased the light. That is a good message to internalize for each of us.”

While Rabbi Lipsker used the Shammash to light the candles on the menorah, the ceremony’s attendees recited traditional Jewish prayers.