Menorahs have begun an explosion in styles in recent years, and it was a giant one that several residents lit when Rabbi Mendel Bluming of Chabad Shul led a community Chanukah celebration at the Cabin John Shopping Center on Sunday, Dec. 17.
Chanukah, also known as the festival of lights, is a minor, post-biblical Jewish Holiday which falls on the 25th of Kislev in the Jewish Calendar.
The Holiday is a result of the victory of the Maccabbes, a group of Jewish fighters, over the Syrians in 139 B.C. When the Jewish fighters took back the Temple, they found only enough oil to keep eternal light burning in the temple for one day.
The oil lasted for eight days, enough time for more oil to be acquired.
To commemorate the miracle, Jewish people light a menorah at sundown on each of the eight nights of the holiday, lighting one candle the first night, two the second night, and so on.
It is also traditional to eat latkes (potato pancakes) because they are fried in oil, as a reminder of the oil which lasted eight days. The menorah and latkes were all present at Cabin John on Sunday night.