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Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is hydraulically lifted to top of three-story Hanukkah menorah at McKeldin Square to light the first candle, at center. On her descent she admitted to Voice of Baltimore she was ‘just a little scared.’ (VoB Photos/Alan Z. Forman)

McKELDIN SQUARE IS SCENE
OF CEREMONIAL LIGHTING

LIKE A MARYLAND MACCABEE

By Alan Z. Forman

Having evicted Occupy Baltimore protesters from the city’s Inner Harbor under cover of darkness Dec. 13, the Mayor of Baltimore Tuesday night ceremoniously re-took McKeldin Square by lighting a three-story-high Hanukkah menorah the way the Maccabees did in Jerusalem more than two millennia ago.

The ancient Hebrews had been evicted from their Temple in the Holy City by the Hellenistic King Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 167 B.C., and 1-2 years later a guerrilla army of Jewish dissidents known as Maccabees re-took the Temple and expelled the pagan forces that had defiled it.

In 165 B.C. the Temple was freed and reconsecrated and the festival of Hanukkah — also known as the Feast of Lights — was instituted by Judas Maccabeus and his brothers to celebrate the event, continuing to the present.

Like a Maryland Maccabee balancing precariously on a hydraulic platform, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was hoisted high in the air via cherry picker to light the huge menorah, an eight-branch candelabrum that commemorates a miracle whereby a one-day supply of Temple oil miraculously burned for more than a week, hence the eight-day annual Jewish celebration known as Hanukkah, or Rededication.

The mayor lit the ninth branch of the menorah, the “servant” candle used to light the other eight branches, beginning with one candle the first night of the holiday and increasing one each evening until a total of eight candles are lit on the final night.

Tuesday was the first night of Hanukkah; Wednesday is the first day. Hanukkah has no direct relationship to Christmas other than occurring at about the same time each year.

RE-TAKING THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM

By re-taking the Temple in Jerusalem the Maccabees were able to rededicate it to religious use.

By evicting the Occupy Wall Street Baltimore campers from McKeldin Square last week and ending their campaign against corporate greed, the city enabled the Chabad-Lubavitch organization which sponsored the Hanukkah event to occupy the square last night.

The Occupy Together protesters had been demonstrating since September against virtually everything evil in American society. The Chabad-Lubavitch members were demonstrating Tuesday night in favor of religious freedom.

Before ascending the menorah, Rawlings-Blake told an enthusiastic crowd of mostly Orthodox Jewish observers, including many yeshiva (i.e., rabbinical seminary) students, that she had more than a few reservations about being transported so high in the air, noting that this year’s candelabra was much “bigger and better” than the one she lit last Hanukkah.

But she bravely did her part, acknowledging however to Voice of Baltimore upon her descent that she was “just a little scared,” although the look on her face while she was in the air seemed to belie that assertion.

HUMAN DREIDELS (spinning tops) — Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical student Shlomo Simenowitz, 17, left, & Dan Brody, 25, were costumed as children's toys at menorah lighting ceremony Tuesday evening at McKeldin Square.

“This menorah is a welcome addition to the Inner Harbor displays” which include mostly Christmas decorations, the mayor told the large gathering, describing it as “a testament to our diversity… to let Baltimore’s light shine.”

UNCONCERNED

No one seemed concerned that her official participation in a religious ceremony might be viewed by some as tantamount to the establishment of state-sponsored religion in Maryland.

The U.S. Supreme Court has issued contradictory rulings regarding religious displays at Christmastime, Hanukkah and Ramadan. As such, an article in the online magazine Slate a decade ago declared: “Nativity scenes on public lands are illegal, rules the Supreme Court. Except when they’re not.”

More than 55 cars filled with participants motorcaded from Park Heights Avenue in Northwest Baltimore to the Inner Harbor, City Councilwoman Rochelle “Rikki” Spector (D-5th) told VoB, “for this festival of rededication.”

Spector was seated on the dais next to Rawlings-Blake, with a contingent that included Police and Fire Dept. officials, along with more than a half dozen rabbis representing the various Chabads in the Baltimore metropolitan area.

The real estate firm of David S. Brown Enterprises Ltd. provided the menorah, dedicated to the memory of Brown’s daughter Esther Ann.

Voice of Baltimore estimated the crowd at about 750 participants. Police Officer Sam E. Bennett, of the Northwest Citizens’ Patrol in Park Heights, confirmed the number to be “at least 500, maybe as many as 1,000.”

alforman@voiceofbaltimore.org

Editor’s note: Chabad is a form of Hasidism — a Jewish mystic movement founded in the 18th century in eastern Europe as a reaction against Talmudic learning, maintaining that one should serve God in every deed and word, and that His presence is in all of one’s surroundings. Originally practiced by Russian and Lithuanian Jews under Czarist and Communist rule, it may also refer to a large missionary Hasidic movement known for its technological expertise, hospitality, optimism and emphasis on religious study, and is often termed Chabad-Lubavitch, which is one of the world’s largest and best known Hasidic movements in Orthodox Judaism, with official headquarters in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn N.Y.

The name Chabad is an acronym for the Hebrew words meaning knowledge, wisdom and understanding. Believed to be the largest Jewish organization in the world today, Chabad maintains institutions in over 1,000 cities and 65 countries worldwide and has more than 200,000 adherents. A “Chabad House” is a center established to offer religious services and sabbath meals, plus counseling, and to host classes, lectures, and workshops on Jewish topics, along with special events as needed in the community. Membership is typically free to anyone Jewish.
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