14 | DECEMBER 15 • 2022

OUR COMMUNITY

C

ongregation Chabad House-
Lubavitch of Eastern Michigan,
will light a 22-foot public
Chanukah menorah at Shea Automotive
(2100 Linden Road, Flint) at 5 p.m. Dec.
19, the second night of the eight-day
Festival of Lights,
The community will be joined by
prosecuting attorney for Genesee
County David Leyton, Genesee County
Sheriff Christopher Swanson and
Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard
Bernstein. The event will also feature
delicious holiday foods and hot soup.
Complimentary Chanukah menorahs
and candles will be distributed as well
for participants to light at home.
The large-scale, in-person pub-
lic Chanukah celebration returns to
Genesee County after a nearly two-year
hiatus, and record numbers of partic-
ipants are expected to join Chabad of
Eastern Michigan’s menorah lighting this
year.
Thirty-seven years ago, Rabbi Yisroel
Weingarten and his wife, Shainie, moved
from Brooklyn to meet the needs of
the Flint Jewish community. One of
Weingarten’s first and largest functions
was erecting Eastern Michigan’s largest
menorah 36 years ago.
“Everyone is especially excited about
Chanukah this year,” said Mrs. Shainie
Weingarten, co-director of Chabad of
Eastern Michigan. “People are prepar-
ing to celebrate with family and friends,
to fill their homes with the light of
Chanukah, and there’s a palpable joy.
The public Chanukah celebration is
about sharing this light and joy with
the broader community and the entire
Genesee County.”

A GLOBAL CHANUKAH
AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
Chanukah emphasizes that each and every
individual has the unique power to illumi-
nate the entire world. It was to encourage
this profound idea that the Rebbe, Rabbi
Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous
memory, launched the Chanukah aware-
ness campaign in 1973, of which Flint’s
public Chanukah activities are a part of.
Chabad-Lubavitch’s annual Chanukah
campaign has distributed millions of
menorahs to Jews around the world, and
erected thousands of public menorahs to
share its universal message of light over
darkness with humanity at large. This year’s
Chanukah campaign will be one of unprec-
edented light and joy, seeing Chabad reach
8 million Jews in more than 100 countries.
This year’s Chanukah campaign comes
amid a growing awareness of Chabad-
Lubavitch’s indelible impact on Jewish
life. Pew Research Center’s 2020 survey of
Jewish Americans showed that 38% of all
American Jews have participated in Chabad
activities and services, of whom more than
75% do not identify as Orthodox.
Indeed, during the pandemic, demand
for Chabad of Eastern Michigan’s religious,
humanitarian and educational services
skyrocketed, and Chabad met Genesee
County’s needs with social services and
elderly care. “We’ve seen a massive uptick
in the level of engagement over the last year
and a half,
” said Rabbi Israel Weingarten.
The menorah’s power is especially felt
when it is lit with joy and enthusiasm,
as it will be this year, with added appre-
ciation for the blessing of being able to
gather once again as a community and
celebrate together.

Flint Chabad sees growing engagement
and expands to meet local need.

22-Foot Steel
Chanukah Menorah Lights
Up Genesee County

JN STAFF

The 22-foot
menorah will
be lit in Flint
Dec. 19.

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