Rabbis Rachel Barenblat and Seth Wax lead a crowd in song at Williamstown's menorah lighting on Sunday evening.
Several dozen participants braved the cold to attend the lighting at the bottom of Spring Street.
The new menorah was acquired by the Williamstown Chamber of Commerce.
Rabbi Rachel Barenblat and her son, Drew Zuckerman, at North Adams' menorah lighting. A public celebration was also held at Congregation Beth Israel immediately following.
Mayor Jennifer Macksey hands out small gift bags.
The new city menorah lights itself each day during Hanukkah.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town marked the beginning of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, on Sunday evening with the lighting of its first menorah.
Installed next to the Christmas tree on the lawn of the Williams Inn, the menorah was sponsored by the Williamstown Chamber of Commerce and celebrated by Rabbis Rachel Barenblat and Seth Wax, chaplain at Williams College. The Williams Inn offered hot cocoa to keep everyone warm.
Chamber President Richard Duncan said the chamber has heard requests in recent years to make the town's annual Holiday Walk celebration more inclusive.
"We had a little committee that was looking into it, and then I pretty much just ran with it," Duncan said. "Rabbi Seth [Wax] helped us pick out a couple of websites to look at, and I went and found [a menorah] that I thought would work well out here — a good height that everyone could see from everywhere."
Waxman joined Barenblat, on guitar, in leading a crowd of a few dozen in a song of blessing prior to the illumination of the town's first publicly displayed menorah.
"Even last year there were calls from people to have a more inclusive thing added to the Holiday Walk," Duncan said. "The Holiday Walk is not about any specific holiday. But a number of people do equate a tree to a Christmas tree, even though it's just lights on a tree. We just thought it was important to really bring us into this era where we are representing different types of people and have this big menorah down here that everybody can see coming down Spring Street."
Barenblat, of Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams, then headed to City Hall to preside over the North Adams menorah lighting. More than a dozen people attended the lighting, held in the lobby this year.
The menorah had first been put up in 2018 and lighted annually in Dr. Rosenthal Square, across from City Hall. Mayor Jennifer Macksey said there had been difficulty in keeping the metal structure stable and lighted — and the weekend's snow would have made it hard to access.
Once again Andrew Zuckerman, Barenblat's son, pushed the button to "light" the first candle on the menorah. It is fully automatic and a candle, or light bulb, will come on at the same time each day for the eight days of Hanukkah.
The rabbi and her son lead the group in singing blessings and the mayor passed out small gift bags of chocolate gold coins and a tiny dreidel.
Barenblat noted, prior to the lighting, that the city had installed its menorah in response to the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and now, with anti-Semitism on the rise, there are two public menorahs in North County.
Jewish Federation of the Berkshires has joined ShineaLighton.com, a national initiative to spotlight modern forms of anti-Semitism and its dangers, and to promote advocacy through social media engagement during Hanukkah. The federation hosted a community menorah lighting on Sunday night at The Mount in Lenox.
Barenblat explained that the Hanukkah story was about two miracles: the defeat of Syrian King Antiochus who ruled Jerusalem and outlawed Judaism, and the how the small amount of consecrated lamp oil "lasted as long as we needed it to" during the rededication of the Second Temple.
The uprising of the Maccabees against Antiochus isn't in the Hebrew scriptures, she said, but rather the "light of hope, the light of Holiness, the light of having enough, feeling that we are enough" is the tradition that has kept going "and kept us going."
According to Proverbs, Barenblat said, "the candle of God is the human soul."
"Unless our lives would be endangered, we're supposed to put the menorah in a window," said the rabbi, pointing to the menorah placed prominently in the large window next to the Christmas tree. "To put it in a place where people can see it where they can see that we are letting our light shine. And we do this by lighting and blessing candles — or in this case light bulbs. ...
"May these Hanukkah lights proclaim the miracle that we are still here and may the light of our souls illuminate the world in all the ways that it most needs."
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North Adams Council Sets School Debt Exclusion Vote
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
Council President Bryan Sapienza holds up an application to work as a poll worker for the upcoming elections. The form can be found under 'Becoming an election worker' under city clerk on the city website or in the city clerk's office.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council gave final approval on Tuesday for the mayor to borrow $65,362,859 for a new Greylock School to serve Grades prekindergarten through 2.
This final adoption paves the way for two community forums and a debt exclusion vote scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 8, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center. Passage of the debt exclusion vote will allow the city to raise funds beyond its levy limit for the life of the loan.
City Clerk Tina Marie Leonesio said the city has about 1,400 requests for mail-in ballots for all elections and that in-person early voting will start the Saturday before.
The first forum is Thursday, Aug. 15, at 6 p.m. at Greylock; officials will provide an overview of the project and tours of the school. Zoom participation is available here. Northern Berkshire Community Television will also record the forums for later broadcast.
The second forum is Thursday, Aug. 22, at 6 p.m. at Brayton Elementary School. The Zoom link is the same and those attending in person can also take a tour of the building.
The Massachusetts School Building Authority will pick up about $41,557,218 of the cost, the city about $20 million and the $3 million balance is expected to come from federal energy grants. The 30-year tiered loan for $20 million is expected to have its highest impact in 2029 when it will add $270 to the average tax bill, or about $22.50 a month.
This final adoption paves the way for two community forums and a debt exclusion vote scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 8, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center.
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This year, the family took on a new challenge, purchasing the historic West End Market building at 437 West Main St. and opening the city's first vegan restaurant, Wish Tree.
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The school received a $64,000 Feigenbaum Foundation grant a couple years ago, but because of supply and shipping delays from the pandemic, the equipment was not delivered until this past winter. click for more
Nearly a dozen residents attended Monday's Conservation Commission meeting to express opposition to a forest management plan that will include logging and the use of herbicides near Notch Reservoir. click for more