WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — With a boost from her dad, Rebecca Wax on Wednesday turned on the first candle of the more than 12-foot tall menorah at the Williams Inn. 

 

Around 40 people attended the community lighting for the first night of Hanukkah, which fell this year on the same day as Christmas. They gathered in the snow around the glowing blue electric menorah even as the temperature hovered around 12 degrees.

 

"We had a small but dedicated group in North Adams, so this is unbelievable," said Rabbi Rachel Barenblat of Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams. "This is honestly unbelievable."

 

Barenblat had earlier observed the lighting of the city's menorah in City Hall, which the mayor opened briefly for the ceremony. 

 

In Williamstown, Rabbi Seth Wax, the Jewish chaplain at Williams College, with his daughters Mia and Rebecca, spoke of the reasons for celebrating Hanukkah, sometimes referred to as the Festival of Lights. 

 

The two common ones, he said, are to mark the single unit of sacred olive oil that lasted eight days during the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem and the military victory over the invading Greeks.

 

"For the rabbis of antiquity, who created and shaped Judaism, these two events were considered to be miracles," said Wax. "They happened not because of what humans did on their own, but because of what something beyond them, what they called God, did on their behalf.