'It feels normal': Winnipeggers coming together to celebrate Hanukkah

Sunday night marked the start of Hanukkah, and the Winnipeg Jewish community is coming together to celebrate the Festival of Lights.

Hanukkah is an eight-day holiday, which celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Holiday traditions include lighting the menorah, reciting special prayers and eating latkes and jelly-filled donuts.

“Everything we eat on Hanukkah is fried and there’s no guilt, because we’re supposed to eat fried food,” said Rena Secter Elbaze, the engagement and education director at Congregation Shaarey Zedek.

On Sunday, the Rady Jewish Community Centre held a Hanukkah celebration that included games, snacks and family fun. After two years of limited gatherings, the community is glad to return to full-scale traditions.

“We are actually getting out of this pandemic and it feels normal,” said Laura Marjovsky, director of programming at the Rady JCC, at Sunday’s event.

“We have a gym full of families celebrating today. It’s a community-wide event with all the Jewish organizations in Winnipeg, the synagogues, the school, the Jewish Federation.”

Secter Elbaze said there are lots of Hanukkah events taking place in Winnipeg this week

These events include a concert for the Simkin Centre on Monday, which will be streamed online; a Hanukkah dinner on Monday with Congregation Etz Chayim; a Hanukkah paint night on Tuesday at the Rady JCC; and a community-wide candle lighting on Wednesday,

Secter Elbaze added Hanukkah is also a holiday that’s celebrated in the home through the lighting of the menorah.

Hanukkah ends on Dec. 25.

- With files from CTV’s Ainsley McPhail.