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The Lighting of New Canaan’s Menorah, a God’s Acre Tradition
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At 6 p.m. Sunday a New Canaan tradition will continue, as families of all denominations as well as town dignitaries and clergy from the area will gather to celebrate Hanukkah atop God’s Acre with the annual lighting of the menorah. The first light of the menorah will shine Sunday evening to signify the start of the holiday, with another light to shine each night until the eighth light, representing the miracle of Hanukkah in which a small amount of oil burned for eight days and nights, helping a small band of Jews defeat the oppression of the Syrian Greeks in Israel. “Hanukkah is in many ways a celebration of religious freedom,” Rabbi Levi Mendelow of Chabad New Canaan said. “I think that here in America and in New Canaan, celebrating Hanukkah is an incredible thing because it is a place of incredible religious freedom. And the fact that the Jewish people are able to celebrate openly and happily in a community that welcomes it is really a very special thing and very meaningful.”