Menorah Lit at Ventura Harbor for Hanukkah Festival

It was a menorah nearly 10 times her size. Menucha Muchnik watched wide-eyed as her father, Rabbi Dov Muchnik, and Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean ascended in a cherry picker Sunday afternoon to light a 20-foot menorah at the Ventura Harbor.

The 2-year-old was among more than 200 people at the harbor for the Hanukkah Festival, which fell on the second day of the Jewish holiday.

“The lighting of the menorah reminds us of hope,” Dov Muchnik, of Chabad of Oxnard, said, igniting a torch. “We’re going to stand strong no matter what, no matter what’s going on in Israel.”

During a year of tension in the Middle East, Jews in Ventura County are even more thankful they can celebrate the eight-day Festival of Lights openly, said Rabbi Mendy Lubin, of Chabad at Ventura Beach.

“You can celebrate alone at home or you can join in community with the world at large,” he said. “This is something that happens in the (Moscow) Kremlin, it happens in Brooklyn, and it happens here at the harbor.”

Lubin celebrated Sunday’s event with his 20-month-old daughter, Rachel Leah Lubin, handing her a jelly doughnut, one of the traditional foods, along with potato pancakes, eaten during Hanukkah.

“We want to eat oily food to remember the miracle of the oil, where the oil in the menorah stayed lit for eight days, even though there was only enough oil for one day,” he said.

The event was designed to bring Jews from across the county together and was hosted by the Chabad Jewish Centers of Oxnard, Ventura and Camarillo.

Elana and Michael Daley traveled from Ojai to attend the gathering because they wanted their 5-year-old son, Samuel Daley, to learn more about Hanukkah.

“We’re very grateful to be able to celebrate this year,” Elana Daley said. “With everything going on in the Middle East, we feel we have so much to be thankful for.”

Ventura Councilman Neil Andrews, who is Quaker, attended the ceremony to show his support for the Jewish community, he said.

“It’s important that we all understand that today is a celebration of bravery in face of great challenges,” he said. “We do often face great challenges, and this is also a celebration of faith.”

Dean, who is Jewish by heritage but does not practice the religion, said he wanted to help with the ceremony because he supports the work the Jewish Centers do in the county.

“It’s an honor to be here and support this community,” he said.

Menucha Muchnik was perched on the edge of her stroller seat as her father and Dean touched the torch to the menorah as the sun set.

“She’s never going to forget this,” her mother, Racheli Muchnik, said. “We’re creating memories that will last a lifetime.”

After lighting the menorah, Dov Muchnik encouraged attendees to go home and light their own candles to remind them to “share light with the world.”

“We are all like a candle,” he said. “When it gets dark, we light a candle, and it shines past the darkness. A little light can shine a long way.”