NEW YORK (RNS) — The Chabad-Lubavitch movement of New York installed a 36-foot menorah on Wednesday (Dec. 10) at Grand Army Plaza near Central Park. The menorah, which the Chabad chapter believes is the world’s largest, is among 15,000 public menorahs to be installed around the globe by the international Chabad movement to celebrate Hanukkah, this year from sundown Sunday to Dec. 22.
Hanukkah commemorates the Jewish people’s victory over the Syrian-Greek army and the rededication of Jerusalem’s Temple. Chabad’s public menorah tradition began in 1973, with an initiative by its spiritual leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to showcase Jewish pride and encourage the observance of Hanukkah in public spaces.
Members of the Hasidic Jewish organization, which aims to engage all Jews, including nonobservant ones, have set up menorahs at prominent secular locations such as the White House, the Eiffel Tower and the Great Wall of China. Since the campaign’s debut, in New York, where the Chabad-Lubavitch movement is headquartered, the group’s giant menorah has been displayed in Midtown, across from Manhattan’s famed Plaza Hotel.
Schneerson, known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, launched the campaign as a reminder that Hanukkah was “a holiday that needs to be celebrated outside … sharing the holiday and sharing that light with the world,” said Rabbi Motti Seligson, a spokesperson for Chabad. “The natural way of celebrating Hanukkah was alw …