WESTFIELD — It’s been a dark year, but Hanukkah is a reminder that people can bring the light they wish to see into the world.
“We are that light,” said Cantor Colman Reaboi, spiritual leader of Congregation Ahavas Achim in Westfield. “To do good. That is how people glow.”
Reaboi and the small congregation hosted a community Hanukkah celebration Friday, the second night of the eight-night Jewish Festival of Lights. As a group they lighted the second candle on the community menorah set up on Park Square Green in the center of the city.
Last year, the annual observance was part of a larger Westfield holiday festival with a torchlight parade, and the menorah lighting itself drew hundreds. Ahavas Achim traditionally hosts a get-together after the menorah lighting with food — including the traditional potato latkes — at the nearby Middle School.
This year, the physically distanced event, done in accordance with COVID-19 protocols, drew a few dozen including Mayor Don Humason, Ward 3 City Councilor Bridget Matthews-Kane and Ward 6 Councilor William Onyski.
Humason said the Christmas tree lighting is canceled this year because it had the potential to draw too large a crowd.
Reaboi on Friday retold the famous story of the rededication of the temple by the Maccabees after their victory over the Syrians, and how a small amount of sacred lamp oil lasted for eight nights.
But he also went on to recount his unsuccessful attempt Thursday night to see the aurora borealis. While he didn’t see the northern lights, he reminded the crowd that he would have had no chance of seeing them if he hadn’t tried to look. That’s part of the Hanukkah message, too, he said. To look.
“It’s about hope,” he said.
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