Jewish community encourages people of all walks of life to come and celebrate Chanukah

Festivities will officially begin December 2 with the traditional lighting of the Menorah at the Synagogue in Launceston.

Rabbi of the Launceston Jewish community Yochanan Gordon said the event, and indeed Chanukah overall, is a great time for the community to come together and share in celebration.

“The idea of Chanukah is to spread outwards and therefore it’s a time that the Jewish community actually opens up to the greater community,” Rabbi Gordon said.

“The Menorah lighting on Sunday the second is something that’s inviting the entire Launceston and Tasmanian community, not just the Jewish community.”

Launceston has a small Jewish population, however Rabbi Gordon believes Chanukah is a great time for Jews to come together as well as share messages with the city as a whole.

Chanukah focuses around the message of light and that it is always be victorious over the dark, as well as the celebration of religious freedom.

Rabbi Gordon also believed that Chanukah is a time to celebrate what makes each person special, and said no person should feel forced to become something else that they are not.

“By showing one’s proudness to be who they are that is the way to create that multicultural society that we live in today,” Rabbi Gordon said.

Another focus of Chanukah, according to Rabbi Gordon is the concept of doing more good every day of the holiday.

Read the article by Harry Murtough in The Examiner.

.