Second Annual Chabad of Montecito’s Chanukah and Menorah Lighting
Chabad Montecito’s 2nd Annual Chanukah celebration and public Menorah lighting took place on Thursday, December 26, from 4 to 6 pm at the Corner Green in front of Pierre Lafond on East Valley Road.
The celebration was led (and originally established) by Chabad of Montecito’s Executive Director Rabbi Chaim Loschak and his wife Mushkie Loschak, who were there with their children.
VIP attendees were Rabbi Mendel Loschak and wife Rochel Loschak who have been serving the Jewish community in Santa Barbara since 2003 when they established SB Chabad; Rabbi Gershon Klein and wife Miri Klein of Chabad at UCSB; Mitchell Chupack and wife Laura Tompkins; Cindy Feinberg, Dr. Jason Solway, members of the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara and Executive Director Cyndi Silverman; President of the Montecito Association Doug Black with his team: Events Chair Mindy Denson and History Chair Trish Davis; Montecito Fire Chief Neels and his team; and the SBC Sheriff’s Department team.
The formal program started with Rabbi Mendel discussing the work of Elyasaf Miara of Sokeda, Israel, a hobby artist who in 2014 asked if he could paint art murals on the exterior of the bomb shelters in southern Israel to “take the edge off” an unpleasant site in towns. Since 2014, he has “beautified” the exteriors of more than 50 bomb shelters all over the Gaza envelope (territory in Israel that is within 7 km of the Gaza Strip) in partnership with Jewish National Fund-USA. He also paints murals on protective border walls. Mendel said that his work is like Chanukah where we ask: How can I make a difference? He noted that everyone has something special and unique they can contribute to shine a light on people and communities anywhere.
Next, Doug Black talked about how light transcends time and culture, imploring those gathered to celebrate the light of Chanukah to remember to be an agent of light shining throughout the world.
Rabbi Chaim presented the importance of public Menorah lighting ceremonies, citing, “This year is the 50th anniversary of public menorah lighting in the United States. The first was in Philadelphia by Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, who lit a menorah in front of Independence Hall in 1974. Here in Montecito, we are one of more than 15,000 public menorah lightings throughout the world. Public menorah lighting is important. When a person sees that a menorah signifies light, they can be light. Light doesn’t fight darkness, it lights up the area around it. Think of ways to bring light to others. Everyone here can be a lamplighter.”
He then wished to provide his thanks before the menorah lighting saying, “Thank you to Laura and Mitch Chupak for donating the public menorah on Coast Village Road; to Houghton Hyatt, Doug Black and Mindy Denson of the Montecito Association for making this event possible; to Lee Steinhart from Wendy Foster who gave us the green light for this menorah lighting; thank you to Mitch and Laura Chupack, Zach Kushinsky and Sully Israel for helping to erect both menorahs and making sure they are sturdy; to the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara for helping promote the event; to Montecito Fire Dept and Sheriff’s Dept for keeping us safe and protected; to Trish Davis and the Coast Village Association for ensuring we have a beautiful menorah on CVR. I also offer special thanks to the volunteers who came to set up this event, gave out donuts, and made sure this event ran smoothly, and to the Chanukah celebration committee. A special thank you to the event sponsors; and to Eric Morrison for securing the event.”
Rabbi Chaim called up his friend and Jewish community supporter Doug Brown to light the menorah. Brown was assisted by Mitch Chupak and another community member. Everyone cheered when the two candles were lit. Rabbi Chaim offered the traditional prayers during the lighting and sang the Chanukah song. The closing song with everyone singing was, “Don’t Let the Light Go Out.”
The event featured a contest in which participants were asked to guess the number of dreidels in a large container, and also included a Chabad of Montecito Step ‘n’ Repeat Photo Booth, an entertainer-comedian-magician, menorah kits and Shabbat candles, and specialty Kosher doughnuts and latkes for refreshments.
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