When the sun sets on Sunday, Dec. 14, over Tlaquepaque, Hanukkah begins and so does Chabad Sedona’s Menorah lighting ceremony.
Adorning the Patio Del Norte will be a large blow-up dreidel and arch, as well as arts and crafts stations for children wanting face painting or balloon animals.
“We’re actually starting a little earlier than we did in the past,” Chabad Sedona Rabbi Mendel Kessler said. “So we start at five o’clock.”
The event will last until about 6:15 or 6:30 p.m., he said and includes a party for the first hour with hot latkes, donuts, hot chocolate, a cotton candy machine and magician Jolly Roger, aka Roger Blakiston.
“I also have a pop-up Hanukkah store,” Kessler said.
“[A] selection of menorahs and candles, dreidels as well as different … gift items that people might want to buy for their loved ones.”
The titular event will begin at 6 p.m.
“There’s welcoming with some thanks to everything about the people who made this event happen,” Kessler said. “A message on Hanukkah. We’ll have the mayor [Holli Ploog] come speak, and then we will light the menorah, and once we light the menorah, they’ll be the concluding song, Ma’oz Tzur.”
Kessler said there will also be a prayer for Israel.
When the actual lighting begins, Kessler said it’s good to remember what Hanukkah means.
“Hanukkah has a lot of beautiful messages and they always seem to be relevant every single year,” Kessler said.
He said this year, the theme is that only one candle is lit.
“It’s not a whole torch,” he said. “It’s not a huge bonfire, just one candle and every day, you increase by one candle. And the message is, is that every single person, every single act matters just like that one candle — one candle dispels a lot of darkness.”
Chabad of Sedona is also organizing its inaugural outdoor Menorah lighting in Cottonwood on Thursday, Dec. 18, at 5:30 p.m. The event will take place in Old Town Square at 1050 N. Main St. No. 59.
Kessler said, because it’s the first one of its kind, the Cottonwood event will likely be smaller and have fewer party items, but he said all are still welcome.
