'Stay positive, bring the light.' Hannukah celebration at Ballantyne Jewish Center
CHARLOTTE, NC (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) – Monday marks the 2nd night of Hannukah, and the Jewish neighborhood proceeds to celebrate the festival of lights all in excess of the area.
The Ballantyne Jewish Middle hosted their eighth once-a-year Hannukah celebration in Stonecrest, and although the traditions of the holiday break have been all over for hundreds of several years, the message has taken on a complete new this means this yr.
“The message of Hannukah is that with a little bit of gentle, we thrust away a lot of darkness,” stated Rabbi Yisrael Levin. “In a environment entire of darkness – so substantially, any where, from the exterior, from inside – we just want to light that light-weight.”
Rabbi Levin is from Israel. With COVID’s new Omicron variant looming, Israel is one of quite a few countries to close its borders to exterior vacationers.
“This is yet another sort of darkness that we see. Just coming again, yet another variant, and all people is worried. I think what we should really do is to stay good and deliver the gentle,” he said.
While Mecklenburg County’s positivity rate was higher this time final 12 months, less men and women confirmed up to the Ballantyne celebration this yr. One particular congregant predicts 450-500 people today attended very last year’s party, in comparison to 250-300 this calendar year.
Meyer Farrell thinks worry of new variants has led some folks to continue to be property, but he states to nevertheless have hundreds of Jews gathered with each other all through a pandemic is very little shorter of a Hannukah miracle.
“It usually means a great deal to see users of the community coming with each other and seeking to be close to each individual other, even with these kinds of a really hard time likely on,” said Farrell.
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The crew from the Ballantyne Jewish Heart will provide their competition to Waxhaw Tuesday night time. They’ll gentle an further candle each individual night of Hannukah, symbolizing adding a small much more brightness into the world just about every working day.
