About 200 people turn out to observe candle lighting
By PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustinerecord.com
Publication Date: 12/30/05
About 200 people came to the Plaza de la Constitucion on Thursday night to observe the fifth night of Hanukkah by watching the lighting of menorah candles.
Rabbi Nochum Kurinski, a leader of the Chabad @ the Beaches in Ponte Vedra Beach, said, "This is the newest menorah for the oldest city in America."
The large aluminum menorah was made by Raymond Zrihen of Jacksonville.
"I commissioned it, but he wouldn't take any money," Kurinski said.
Kalman Rothman, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who is Rabbi Kurinski's father-in-law, said a menorah candle is being lit every night in different Florida cities.
The first night was Sunday, which began the Hanukkah miracle. A candle was lit at Disney World in Orlando.
On Monday, the second candle was lit in Ponte Vedra Beach.
The third was at Jacksonville Landing on Tuesday and the fourth Wednesday in Atlantic Beach.
"Many store owners in this city asked for the fifth one to be lit here," Rothman said.
On the fifth night, children get gifts of coins or money.
Hanukkah is the Jewish Feast of the Dedication or Festival of Lights, begun by Judas MaccabÊus in 165 B.C. to commemorate the dedication of a new altar in the temple of Jerusalem. That altar replaced an altar which had been polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria.
Kurinski said Hanukkah is "always celebrated in the heart of winter, a time when the world is full of darkness, and there isn't much light."
As St. Augustine Mayor George Gardner lit the middle, or lead, candle, the crowd grew quiet. The other candles are traditionally lit from that one.
Little Julian Davis, 4, said only one word, "Fire!"
Gardner said the ceremony symbolized "a representation of universal faith" and crossed all cultural boundaries, since the menorah stood only a few feet from a Christmas tree.
"This is an excellent example of community," he said.
He said the Plaza was established in 1598 as a public space in the original St. Augustine settlement.
"It has remained so throughout the past 400 years," he said.
Rick Levy of St. Augustine, a guitarist for the local band Falling Bones, and formerly with Herman's Hermits, said he had drifted away from his Jewish faith over the years.
"It's nice to come back to your roots a little bit," Levy said. "It's good to see people here of all faiths. That's what's cool about this town."
Levy returned to his faith with a vengeance and is now studying Kabbala, or Jewish mysticism. He also wrote and performed a song on the St. Augustine Christmas album last year called, "My Baby Bought Me a Dreidel for Christmas."
The audience sang the traditional "Moaz Tzur" and "I Had a Little Dreidel."
The only thing missing was mention of the First Congregation Sons of Israel in St. Augustine and Temple Bet Yam in St. Augustine Beach. Jerry Kass, of the Sons of Israel, said nobody had passed the word about this celebration to either of those local congregations. "I read about it in the paper," Kass said.
Kurinski said Hanukkah teaches people to light their souls and bring them out into the world.
"To be good people and effect change, we have to include obvious acts of goodness and kindness," he said. "But yesterday's act is no longer good enough. We have to increase that and make the world a better place."
TEXT:About 200 people came to the Plaza de la Constitucion on Thursday night to observe the fifth night of Hanukkah by watching the lighting of menorah candles.
Rabbi Nochum Kurinski, a member of an ultra-orthodox chabad in Ponte Vedra Beach, said, "This is the newest menorah for the oldest city in America."
The large aluminum menorah was made by Raymond Zrihen of Jacksonville.
"I commissioned it, but he wouldn't take any money," Kurinski said.
Kalman Rothman, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who is Rabbi Kurinski's father-in-law, said a menorah candle is being lit every night in different Florida cities.
The first night was Sunday, which began the Hanukkah miracle. A candle was lit at Disney World in Orlando.
On Monday, the second candle was lit in Ponte Vedra Beach.
The third was at Jacksonville Landing on Tuesday and the fourth Wednesday in Atlantic Beach.
"Many store owners in this city asked for the fifth one to be lit here," Rothman said.
On the fifth night, children get gifts of coins or money.
Hanukkah is the Jewish Feast of the Dedication or Festival of Lights, begun by Judas MaccabÊus in 165 B.C. to commemorate the dedication of a new altar in the temple of Jerusalem. That altar replaced an altar which had been polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria.
Kurinski said Hanukkah is "always celebrated in the heart of winter, a time when the world is full of darkness, and there isn't much light."
As St. Augustine Mayor George Gardner lit the middle, or lead, candle, the crowd grew quiet. The other candles are traditionally lit from that one.
Little Julian Davis, 4, said only one word, "Fire!"
Gardner said the ceremony symbolized "a representation of universal faith" and crossed all cultural boundaries, since the menorah stood only a few feet from a Christmas tree.
"This is an excellent example of community," he said.
He said the Plaza was established in 1598 as a public space in the original St. Augustine settlement.
"It has remained so throughout the past 400 years," he said.
Rick Levy of St. Augustine, a guitarist for the local band Falling Bones, and formerly with Herman's Hermits, said he had drifted away from his Jewish faith over the years.
"It's nice to come back to your roots a little bit," Levy said. "It's good to see people here of all faiths. That's what's cool about this town."
Levy returned to his faith with a vengeance and is now studying Kabbala, or Jewish mysticism. He also wrote and performed a song on the St. Augustine Christmas album last year called, "My Baby Bought Me a Dreidel for Christmas."
The audience sang the traditional "Moaz Tzur" and "I Had a Little Dreidel."
The only thing missing was mention of the First Congregation Sons of Israel in St. Augustine and Temple Bet Yam in St. Augustine Beach. Jerry Kass, of the Sons of Israel, said nobody had passed the word about this celebration to either of those local congregations. "I read about it in the paper," Kass said.
Kurinski said Hanukkah teaches people to light their souls and bring them out into the world.
"To be good people and effect change, we have to include obvious acts of goodness and kindness," he said. "But yesterday's act is no longer good enough. We have to increase that and make the world a better place."
© The St. Augustine Record
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