Chanukah Celebration Features Doughnut Menorah

Eight-year-old Aliza and 6-year-old Nochi Zeines drizzled chocolate on a pair of doughnuts, plopped on a dab of whipped cream and finished them off with a handful of sprinkles.

Then their father, Sholom Zeines, slid the treats over one of the branches of an 8-foot-high menorah.

“It’s a work of art,” Zeines told his children with a laugh. “You have a future at Dunkin’ Donuts.”

Doughnuts were stacked one atop another on the branches of the menorah.

That was just one of the ways Volusia County’s Jewish community celebrated Hanukkah Sunday at the Esformes Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Center on Granada Boulevard.

Known as the festival of lights, Hanukkah is an eight-day commemoration of the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem following a Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks during the 2nd Century BCE.

The story goes that the Syrian-Greeks vastly outnumbered the Maccabees, the Jewish rebel army. However, despite their inferior numbers, the Maccabees emerged victorious.

When the Jews went to rededicate the temple that had been defiled by the Syrian-Greeks, a single-day supply of oil burned for eight days, according to the story.

Because Hanukkah focuses on oil, doughnuts and latkes, a fried potato pancake, are often a part of celebrations.

Rabbi Pinchas Ezagui said one of the messages of Hanukkah is that the truth will prevail even when the odds seem insurmountable.

“Success is not based on quantity. If you stick to the truth and stay focused, you will succeed,” he said.

A variety of other activities were on tap during the celebration.

Children donned sumo suits and tried to push each other off a mat. A horse, along with a miniature train, offered rides. There was a petting zoo with goats and chicks.

For entertainment, Nosson Zand delivered verses and beats to the audience, performing a genre of music he calls kosher hip-hop. French twin acrobats followed Zand’s performance with dazzling feats.

Construction of the center has helped to strengthen the Jewish community, said Morris Esformes, who donated more than $4 million to build the synagogue, community center and school on Granada Boulevard. The facility opened in 2008.

“This is what reminds us of who we are when we have events like this,” he said.

Esformes said the center is drawing new Jewish residents to Central Florida every year, and its success demonstrates that Ormond Beach is a “place where everyone can come together.”