Lighting of the Village Menorah
Sunday • December 6, 2026
This year's observation of Hanukkah is sundown of Wednesday, December 25, 2024 and ends at nightfall on January 1, 2025
Please gather at 5:45 pm at the gazebo
in Pawtuxet Park and the lighting of the Village Menorah will take place at 6:00 pm.
Join us afterwards for hot latkes, gelt, dreidel games, and Hanukkah songs,
led by Rabbi Yossi Laufer of Chabad of West Bay.
✭ This event will be held rain or snow. Bring an umbrella.
Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem in 165 BCE after the Temple had been profaned by the Hellenistic Emperor Antiochus IV.
At the time of the rededication, there was just one day’s worth of pure oil left that was needed to keep the Temple menorah burning. But tradition says a great miracle happened: It lasted for eight days.
Each year, Jews light candles in their hanukkiot (Hanukkah menorahs) to symbolize the miracle. On the first night of Hanukkah, one candle is placed in the menorah. On each successive night, another candle is added. By the last night of Hanukkah, eight candles are glowing brightly in celebration of this beautiful festival.
