Standing between a 65-foot neon-lit guitar outside the Hard Rock Cafe and a 40-foot Christmas tree, the 1,000-pound steel menorah drew practicing Jews to the entertainment hot spot - and also lured inquisitive shoppers over long enough to put down their lattes and clap along to traditional Jewish tunes.
“Our challenge tonight is to channel the positive energy here,” said Rabbi Mordy Einbinder, associate director of the Tarzana-based Chabad of the Valley, which organized the seventh annual event. “It’s to galvanize the light that pushes away the darkness which besets our world.”
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Thousands gathered Sunday night at Universal CityWalk for an electrifying experience: lighting a 15-foot-tall menorah to observe the first of eight days of Hanukkah.Standing between a 65-foot neon-lit guitar outside the Hard Rock Cafe and a 40-foot Christmas tree, the 1,000-pound steel menorah drew practicing Jews to the entertainment hot spot - and also lured inquisitive shoppers over long enough to put down their lattes and clap along to traditional Jewish tunes.“It’s always good to learn about other cultures,” said Reece as she tapped her feet to the music.
Organizers from Chabad of the Valley raised money to host the start of the Jewish holiday at CityWalk because of its central location between downtown Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.After Sunday’s big blowout celebration, smaller observances of the holiday are planned around the Valley for the next eight days, through Dec. 29, the last day of Hanukkah, Kahn said.hard rock cafe syria.Also known as the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah is an eight-day annual observance of the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem. In the second century B.C., it was retaken by Jewish warriors rebelling over a Syrian king who forbade Jewish practices and desecrated the treasured temple.hard rock cafe syria. “But it’s to Israel and the entire world.” “Our challenge tonight is to channel the positive energy here,” said Rabbi Mordy Einbinder, associate director of the Tarzana-based Chabad of the Valley, which organized the seventh annual event. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined in Sunday’s celebration, asking for a moment of silence for those killed in Mumbai. He later danced onstage with several rabbis and Orthodox Jews, sitting on the shoulders of one, which drew cheers from the crowd.
Villaraigosa’s involvement at the event, along with Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, spreads a welcome message about unity of religious belief systems, said Rabbi Yanky Kahn of Chabad of the Valley.hard rock cafe syria “We should all be united together. There’s so much evil in this world,” said Kahn. “We are all living in Los Angeles and should be one community.” Kathleen Reece of Northridge came to Sunday’s celebration to learn more about the Jewish faith.“It’s to galvanize the light that pushes away the darkness which besets our world.” Chabad of the Valley serves as headquarters for its 22 centers in the Valley. There are 200 Chabad centers in California and thousands worldwide. But Sunday’s three-hour celebration was done Hollywood-style, with a video camera panning the dancing crowd and showing their gleeful images on a big-screen TV. Meanwhile, a clown on 10-foot-tall stilts and wearing green and gold pants mingled in, just steps away from a massive reproduction of basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal.Sima Bart of Los Angeles stood among the crowd of about 15,000,
teaching her 2-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter songs sung live on the event’s center stage.
“They made it very elaborate and entertaining,” said Bart. “There are a lot of people here. It’s very exciting.”
Sunday’s ceremony also reflected on the Chabad Center in Mumbai, India - targeted by terrorists who stormed the facility in late November and killed an Israeli rabbi and his wife. The couple’s 2-year-old son survived the attack, which also targeted two luxury hotels, a hospital and a busy railway station, and left more than 160 others dead.hard rock cafe syria
Worshippers on Sunday dedicated the first candle lighted on the menorah to the rabbi’s orphaned child, as part of the holiday that celebrates light over darkness in the world.“We are lighting this candle not just for Universal. Not just for Los Angeles or for California,” said Jacob Dayan, the Israeli consul general.
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