Chabad center lights up Hanukkah

This year’s community Hanukkah event connected, honored and celebrated 2,000 years of history.

The traditional menorah lighting at the Chabad Jewish Center of Monroe followed a memorial service for the soldiers from New Jersey that were killed in combat in Iraq.

Rabbi Eliezer Zaklikovsky, who runs the Chabad center, said the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces are fighting for the triumph of freedom over oppression, just as the Maccabean soldiers did in their victorious battle, which the holiday commemorates.

“These American soldiers have done the same,” Zaklikovsky said. “They have given their lives, and continue to give their lives, for the sake of a higher calling of justice that they do so honorably and so lovingly.”

Zaklikovsky said that one of the blessings recited while lighting the menorah states that God has made miracles for our forefathers and in our own time.

“And the sages tell us that we need to celebrate it like it’s happening now, the miracle,” Zaklikovsky said. “Not that we’re celebrating a historical event of the past, but something that we’re re-experiencing like it would be the first time.”

Members of the community read the names of the 49 fallen New Jersey soldiers, which was followed by a moment of silence and a blessing for the soldiers.

Former Monroe police officer and current member of Bugles Across America John Schiavione played taps on the bugle, and then the Hanukkah festivities began.

“People were very touched by it,” Zaklikovsky said. “It gave a real feeling to the whole celebration. It was emotional, on the one hand, and happy on the other.”

Councilman Irwin Nalitt, and residents Al and Rose Tyberg, and Leonard and Freida Posnock, lighted the menorah, and a band from the Rabbinical College of America, Morristown, played while everyone danced.

Most of the program was held outside the center, located at 261 Gravel Hill Road. But that, Zaklikovsky said, didn’t seem to bother the crowd, as 150 people attended the event.

“An amazing crowd, to come outside and be outside for an hour and a half,” he said.

About 25 kids also attended, and were given a demonstration of an olive oil press, shown how to light the menorah, and enjoyed arts and crafts activities.

In addition, everyone was treated to latkes, jelly doughnuts, hot chocolate and hot apple cider.

Tonight, members of the community are expected to join a Hanukkah party in Trenton with acting Gov. Richard Codey. Zaklikovsky said Monroe Township consistently has the largest showing at the 24-year-old event.

Zaklikovsky said he is very gratified by the public turnout at the center’s events, and that the attendance of those events continues to increase.

“The reach and the response of the community to what Chabad is doing is absolutely growing,” Zaklikovsky said.

He added that the center and its events welcome all the members of the community, regardless of their level of observance.

“We are here for the community,” Zaklikovsky said.