Hanukkah is an eight-night celebration in the Jewish faith that commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple after the Jewish people reclaimed it from the Syrian Greeks in the second century.
They expected a small amount of oil to light the temple briefly; it miraculously burned for a full eight nights. This makes the holiday a historical observance as well as a spiritually significant one.
Yudi Steiger is the Rabbi of Park City’s Chabad Lubavitch. His organization is hosting a menorah parade down Main Street Monday night to celebrate the holiday.
“Hanukkah is called the Festival of Lights so it's all about bringing the lights," Steiger said. "We all have our inner light inside of us trying to get a light out and to shine for our surroundings.”
He said celebrating Hanukkah in cars started during the pandemic as a safe way to come together. But something special and unexpected happened with a few people in the community who happened to be of Russian descent.
“I'm never going to forget looking in their eyes and seeing them," he said. "The joy in their eyes and they were in tears just being able to be proud Jews, the Jews in the street when they remember growing up and having to hide their Judaism and people were in the streets people saw us while driving around with our menorahs on top of our cars and everyone was so supportive.”
That community support inspired Steiger to make it an annual tradition. He said 25 cars will participate in this year’s parade.
“And everyone will have menorahs for all the participants," he said. "We’ll have menorahs to put on top of their cars and will have, will be escorted by police going down Main Street.”
