Chanukah is celebrated every year by the worldwide Jewish community to commemorate the strength of its people, culture and religion withstanding the siege and persecution of the Syrian ruler Antiochus Epiphanes and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 168 BCE . A Jewish resistance, led by the Maccabee family, took back the Temple, but there was only enough oil to keep the ner tamid (eternal light) aflame for a single day. Miraculously, the ner tamid remained lit for eight days, by which time a messenger returned with more oil.
Down Valley Jewish Families and Friends formed about three years ago, the first meeting taking place among eight or so friends in a Carbonddale living room. The unofficial group, organized with love by members Joan Wallis and Niki Delson, has grown to include well over 200 people, and is “a Jewish community without walls,” as described by Delson.
Friends and family, including gentiles, gathered at the Carbondale Fire Station to celebrate the fourth night of Chanukah on Dec. 28. There was music, young people playing dreidel and plenty of cheer and good food to go around. As the cultural saying goes, “They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat.”
