DECEMBER 21 • 2023 | 35
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OUR COMMUNITY

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ault Ste. Marie became 
the first city in 
Northern Ontario to 
mark the start of Chanukah 
with a public menorah lighting 
on Thursday, Dec. 7. 
 At a time when many cities 
across North America are can-
celling public menorah lightings 
or public figures are declining 
invitations to attend, Sault Ste. 
Marie held its first such event. 
More than 100 local residents 
attended — many part of the 
Jewish community but others 
there in a show of support. 
 Mayor Matthew Shoemaker 
led the ceremony outside the 
Ronald A. Irwin Civic Centre, 
with Tova Arbus, president of Congregation 
Beth Jacob Synagogue, sharing the story of 
Chanukah. Sault Ste. Marie Commissioner 
Andrew Rubinstein also attended. 
 The public menorah lighting was the 
culmination of many years of effort, Arbus 
said. 
 “For me, this started when I moved back 
to Sault Ste. Marie about 10 years ago, when 
I began commenting on city posts about 
season decorations with a gentle reminder 
of the 29 different festivals and holidays 
that take place between November and 
January, and the suggestion that this be 
taken into account when they plan holiday 
decor,
” Arbus said. 
 “
As our city becomes more and more 
diverse and multicultural, it is high time 
that the decorations and events of the city 
reflect that.
” 
 Shortly after his election, Shoemaker 
visited the local synagogue to meet with 
its members and learn more about what 
he and the city could do to help the Jewish 
community feel more included. Arbus says 

she mentioned what she calls her “holiday 
campaign,
” an idea Shoemaker received 
with enthusiasm. 
 “I shared that many other cities install a 
large public menorah and light it in honor 
of Chanukah each year,
” Arbus said. “Mayor 
Shoemaker took that idea back to his team 
and they ran with it from there.
” 
 With frequent consultation with Arbus, 
the city sourced a large menorah with bulbs 
that can be lit separately in order to light a 
new one each night, as is traditional during 
Chanukah. She said that now that it’s hap-
pened, it’s hard to fully put her feelings into 
words. 
 “I feel so deeply pleased and proud that 
our city would take this on,
” Arbus said. 
“It feels like such a positive initiative, and 
a great step in the direction of wider inclu-
sivity and acceptance in our community as 
a whole.
” 
 Arbus added that the closest public 
menorah lighting of which she is aware is in 
Traverse City. She hopes the Sault’s actions 
will inspire other nearby cities to spearhead 

similar initiatives, in support of 
all cultural groups. 
 Because plans for the meno-
rah began well before the cur-
rent crisis in Israel and Gaza, 
some concern arose that the 
lighting could become a polit-
ical controversy as the start of 
Chanukah approached. 
 “It seems that everything 
Jewish people do these days is 
conflated with the Israel-Gaza 
crisis, no matter what the action 
or activity,
” Arbus said. “
And 
there are many who are hurt, 
angry or downright hateful, 
and who choose to demonstrate 
against Jewish people in the dias-
pora (lands outside of Israel) as a 
way to make a statement against the Israeli 
government, army and war with Hamas.
” 
 She pointed out that equating the policies 
and actions of the Israeli government with 
Jewish people everywhere is in and of itself 
antisemitic. 
 As a result of the risk, organizers from 
the city and the synagogue stayed in fre-
quent contact with the local police and the 
Ontario Provincial Police’s hate crimes unit 
to ensure the security and safety of all who 
attended. It is important to Arbus, though, 
that local residents remember the celebra-
tion of Chanukah and the local menorah 
lighting are not political acts. 
 “It was not, nor is it now, intended as 
any sort of political statement about the 
horrific situation in the Middle East,
” she 
said. “Instead, this menorah is intended as a 
celebration of the long and continued pres-
ence of the Jewish community here in Sault 
Ste. Marie, and a symbol of acceptance and 
tolerance.
” 

Reprinted with permission from Sault This Week.

Mayor Mathew Shoemaker addresses a gathering at Bellevue Park for 
a public lighting of the menorah, marking the beginning of Chanukah 
on Dec. 7. 

Sault Ste. Marie’s Jewish community hopes to see 
other northern cities follow with similar initiatives.

Menorah Lighting in 
Northern Ontario

SARA MCCLEARY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

SARA MCCLEARY