Hanukkah begins as menorah lit at Bournemouth pier

The first eve of Hanukkah was marked in Bournemouth as hundreds of people from across the conurbation gathered to light a giant 25ft tall menorah.

The feature returned to Pier Approach lighting the area around Bournemouth Pavilion and down to the pier.

Bournemouth West MP Sir Conor Burns went up in a cherry picker to light the central candle, before Rabbi Lionel Rosenfeld lit the first candle on the far right of the menorah.

The start of the eight-day Festival of Lights was marked with music representing Jewish eternity and resilience, hot drinks and traditional Hanukkah foods, including doughnuts.

Menorah kits were also given out to those attending the event.

Rabbi Bentzion Alperowitz of Chabad of Bournemouth welcomed the crowds.

“Tonight, we are going to light the first candle of the Hanukkah menorah,” he said.

“Is it dark outside? Yes, it is dark outside. But we are soon going to change that.

“We are going to light a candle and we are going to make it bright.”

Rabbi Bentzion said the Jewish people are celebrating Hanukkah this year ‘at a time when the world seems to have a lot of darkness’.

“As we all know, our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land of Israel are in a situation where they need God’s protection and they are in constant need of God’s miraculous blessings for protection,” he said.

“May they indeed all be blessed and may they all come home safely.

“The world’s attention now is turned to the Jewish people, and not always in a good way.

“Darkness can seem scary, even frightening. But are we scared of darkness, are we going to hide? No, we are not hiding, we are not laying low, we are going to expel the darkness.

“But darkness is expelled by light, and that is why we are here tonight.”

The giant menorah will be on display through the festival.

Sir Conor Burns said it was an enormous honour to be invited to attend the ‘wonderful’ ceremony.

“The lights that will go up behind us, being near the centre of Bournemouth, will take on, this year, a special significance because of what is going on in the Middle East,” Sir Conor said.

“I want to say this to all of you, as a practicing Christian, who each week goes to church, and participates in a tradition begun at a Passover, who listens and prays to Abraham, our father in faith, who sings and recites the Psalms familiar over the centuries and the synagogues throughout the world.

“The solidarity of every Christian is with the Jewish people in Israel and around the world at this particular time.

“May the light behind us, shine as a beacon this year, of welcome and solidarity of everyone in Bournemouth for the Jewish people.”

Hanukkah marks the victory of a militarily weak Jewish people over the Syrian Greeks, who had overrun ancient Israel and sought to impose restrictions on the Jewish way of life, prohibiting religious freedom.

The holiday is seen as a symbol of the triumph of freedom over oppression, of spirit over matter and of light over darkness.

Hanukkah began on the evening of December 7, and runs until December 15.