‘When the light is most needed is when it is most dark’: Hundreds gather at Riverfront Park for Hanukkah celebration in wake of tragedy in Australia

A shimmering light during the darkest time of year.

That was the central message Mayor Lisa Brown and Rabbi Yisroel Hahn imparted to the crowd of hundreds Thursday as, together, they placed a flame to the wicks of a massive, multibranched menorah.

The Grand Chanukah Celebration, hosted by the Chabad of Spokane, began first at Ferris High School around 4:15 p.m. Attendees caravaned from Ferris in a line of 20 cars, including a limousine, all the way down to Riverfront Park. On the way, small LED menorahs mounted on top of each car illuminated and traced their path forward.

Upon arriving at Riverfront Park, Jewish community members and others clustered outside of the carousel downtown for the Festival of Lights.

“Light doesn’t argue with darkness,” Hahn said to the crowd at Riverfront. “Light doesn’t scream at darkness … Tonight, I want to encourage you to light your light … Choose compassion. Choose care. Be that person that inspires other people. Light up your menorah.”

In the wake of a shooting that unfolded Sunday in Sydney, Australia, and killed 15 Jewish people, Thursday’s Hanukkah celebration in Spokane was a time to honor the victims, recommit to compassion and remember the importance of community.

For Phillip Rudnev, the most important part of Hanukkah was to not back away from his identity, but to “stand and come forth.”

“We know from history that hiding never works,” Rudnev said. “That’s actually the story of Chanukah, specifically with the Maccabees.”

To understand the history of Hanukkah, also spelled Chanukah, it’s important to go back more than 2,000 years to Alexander the Great, who conquered Judea, known as the Land of Israel.

Under his rule, Alexander allowed everyone to practice their own religion and operate with a certain degree of autonomy. More than a century later, Antiochus III, the Seleucid King of Syria, assumed the throne around 200 B.C. and allowed Jews to practice their religion, just as Alexander had. Unfortunately, his son, Antiochus IV, did not.

Antiochus IV demanded that all Jews worship Greek Gods. In 168 B.C., his army massacred thousands of people in Jerusalem and disrespected their Second Temple by building an altar to Zeus, the Greek god of thunder.

“At some point they said, ‘We can’t keep doing this, because we’re just getting slaughtered, and we have to stand up,’” Rudnev said of the Jewish people back then, many of whom hid in the mountains of Judea. “We have to stand for our beliefs, for our values and be loud and clear that we’re not going anywhere.”

Before long, the Maccabees and other Jewish families, led by Judah Maccabee, revolted and drove the Syrians out of Jerusalem in 164 B.C.

But the significance of Hanukkah does not stem from the defeat of the Syrians. It comes from something known as “the miracle of the oil.”

When the Second Temple was restored to its former glory, Judah Maccabee asked his people to light the seven branches of the menorah inside the temple. That is when the Talmud, a collection of teachings written in Hebrew, says a miracle occurred.

Despite only having enough olive oil to keep the menorah’s candles burning for a single night, somehow they continued to flicker for eight nights, hence the reason Hanukkah is an annual eight-day festival.

“When the light is most needed is when it is most dark,” Brown said. “So, let’s light our lights. Let’s use our voices, and let’s stand together.”

While hundreds of people belonging to the Jewish faith gathered with heavy hearts and hopeful attitudes, there were many people at the celebration who did not identify as Jewish.

Lane Young does not quite identify as Jewish, Christian or any other religion. He is still deciding.

Regardless, he said the Jewish community has been extremely welcoming every time he has gone to a synagogue and has wanted to learn more about the religion of his father’s side of the family.

After the horrific events that occurred in Australia on the first day of Hanukkah, he believed it was important to express his solidarity.

“Gotta keep that light going no matter what happens,” Young said. “One day they could be attacking Jews, one day they could be attacking Christians. To people who think they’ve got a message or right way in that kind of extremism, it doesn’t matter who their target is; they’ll go after everybody.”

He, like Rudnev, said history and acts of hate tend to repeat over the course of time. What is important, Young said, is to not let that turn a person into something bitter, angry and dark.

Hate, malice and all the darkest things in the world seemed impossibly out of reach as the candles of the seven-pronged menorah were lit to a stirring, yet slightly somber, round of applause.

Afterward, the ladder of a Spokane firetruck lifted firefighters high into the sky to throw silver chocolate coins, known as gelt, down to the crowd. The eager kids waiting below were quick to scurry across the ground and snatch the delicious candies, as the chocolates continued to rain down.

The chocolate gelt are meant to represent prosperity, said Erica Goldberg, a professor of law at Gonzaga University who attended the Hanukkah celebration.

She recently moved to Spokane and said the Lilac City has a really nice, welcoming Jewish community. Before going to the Chanukah celebration, she admits she was a bit nervous about attending the event because of what happened in Australia.

Upon hearing about the police presence, she felt much more at ease. She said she was particularly struck by something Brown said about how the community is simultaneously sharing in the sorrow after the death of those in Australia while sharing in the joy of the Festival of Lights.

“The menorah is traditionally put on a windowsill, shining outside of the house, onto the outside world,” Rudnev said. “And that is just a reminder that as people, we need to just shine a light on each other and be a motivation, a beacon of sorts, to each other in hard times and day-to-day life. It’s just the light within you that you cannot hide from anyone else. In fact, it’s a responsibility. You cannot hide it. You have no right to hide it. It’s something that God gave you, and it’s your responsibility to share with the world.”