Locals celebrate Hanukkah with menorah lighting at Columbia City Hall

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ).

Chabad Jewish Center of MU and Mid-Missouri honored Jewish culture at a menorah lighting ceremony in front of City Hall in Downtown Columbia during the second day of Hanukkah.

Around 50 people gathered on Thursday for the local event’s 50th anniversary. This year, Christmas and Hanukkah began on the same day, which hasn't occurred since 2005. Many Jewish families found the overlap added a special sense of festivity.

"It's just kind of nice because it is the Festival of Lights, and everybody puts up Christmas lights. So it just feels extra festive for us," ceremony attendee Deidra McClendon said.

Eric Dirksmeyer of Congregation Beth Shalom in Columbia shared the sentiment.

"I think it has its blessings. I mean, it's nice for everyone to be able to share the same day," Dirksmeyer said. "They can light the menorah on Christmas and celebrate Christmas at the same time. So it's the best of both worlds,"

The shadow of global conflict weighed on some attendees during the festivities. Oct. 7, 2023, is a date that will never be forgotten in the Jewish community.

Alyce Turner, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, described the tragedy.

"It was a really terrible thing for Israel. Many in my congregation lost loved ones, and it was horrendously bad," Turner said.

According to the Congressional Research Service, more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 46 U.S. citizens in Israel, were killed during the Hamas attack.

"I have family who have been over there for a long time who I believe weren't affected, but definitely were scared and fortunately got out of there," Dirksmeyer said.

Since the attack, more than 800 Israeli soldiers have died, according to the Associated Press. In Gaza, the humanitarian toll is staggering. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported nearly 45,000 Palestinian deaths as of Dec. 10, including over 13,000 children.

"Gaza has been tragic Israel needs to stay strong, but yet we have to find a way out of this, and we need to have peace in our world, peace in Israel, peace in Gaza," Turner said.

As of Dec. 10, nearly 45,000 Palestinians have died in the ongoing Gaza conflict, according to data from OCHA .

By Oct. 7, 2024, more than 16,000 men, more than 7,000 women, 13,000 children, and 3,000 elderly individuals had lost their lives, OCHA reported. The violence has also left 5,400 Israelis injured. In Gaza, there were 384 fatalities and more than 2,000 injuries as of Dec. 10.

"I hope we can finish the war already and Hamas could put down their weapons and there can be true peace and the hostages could finally come home that are stick in the tunnels in Gaza," Rabbi Avraham Lapine said.

Antisemitic incidents have surged to unprecedented levels, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s Center for Extremism. More than 10,000 incidents were reported in the year following the Oct. 7, 2023.

"Actually after Oct. 7, when I read about the antisemitism, I actually was almost afraid to wear a Jewish star. It put that fear in me and I felt like this is maybe how my my mother felt in Nazi Germany," Turner said.

Lapine said Hanukkah is all about resilience and hope.

"Hanukkah is all about that. It's not about chasing away the darkness. It's about lighting up the darkness. So even though there's a lot of people darkness with hate and antisemitism, we light the menorah to expel all the hate and the darkness," Lapine said.

The organizations next event is a Shabbat morning service on Jan. 4.