Chabad of Penn State is bringing back its annual Hanukkah parade this weekend to help kick off the eight-day Jewish holiday.
The local chapter’s car menorah parade will wind through downtown State College on Sunday and culminate with a menorah lighting at Sidney Friedman Park, 241 S. Fraser St. The community event coincides with the beginning of Hanukkah, which takes place from sundown on Dec. 18 through Monday, Dec. 26.
“This is a great way to kick off the special holiday of Chanukah. [With it] being the first night, we will also have menorah kits to give out,” Rabbi Nosson Meretsky, director of Chabad of Penn State, said in a statement. “The Car Menorah Parade is a perfect way for State College’s Jewish community to show our Jewish pride and celebrate Hanukkah.”
Community members will begin lining up for Sunday’s parade at 4:30 p.m. Cars will depart from 443 E. Waring Ave. at 5 p.m. and continue throughout the borough, including drives along Beaver Avenue and College Avenue.
Once the parade ends at Sidney Friedman Park around 5:30 p.m., the community is invited to celebrate Hanukkah with a menorah lighting, plus live entertainment, music, Hanukkah-themed treats and prizes for children.
Community members can sign up online to register for the parade and secure a menorah for their cars. Each menorah comes with a $36 rental fee payable online or at Sunday’s event. Fees for Penn State students are covered by the local Chabad chapter’s donors.
Across the globe, Chabad-organized parades will put more than 6,500 menorah-topped cars on the road to spread Hanukkah’s message of “hope and joy,” the organization said. This year’s campaign is expected to erect approximately 15,000 public menorahs and reach more than 8 million Jews in more than 100 countries. Additionally, Chabad said it will help distribute approximately 32 million Hanukkah candles, 700,000 menorah kits, 350,000 at-home Hanukkah kits and 2.5 million holiday guides printed in 17 languages.
Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after a Jewish group, the Maccabees, claimed victory over the Syrian Greeks who ruled the land in the second century B.C. Now an annual holiday known as the “festival of lights,” Hanukkah corresponds each winter with the Jewish calendar and is celebrated with eight days and nights of menorah lightings, prayer and fried foods.
