Last week, a group of Howard County officials and I put up a menorah display in Cooksville, Maryland. Standing in front of the Gary Arthur Community Center, this nine-foot-tall menorah will be lit in a public ceremony on Dec. 30 and will be up throughout the holiday. After the installation, I posted a picture of the menorah on my status and someone replied privately, asking, “Why did you put one up in Cooksville?”
Cooksville lies in a rural part of Howard County that has no synagogues or Jewish community centers. For that reason, many assume — mistakenly — that there are no Jews living there. The person who messaged me asked why, if Howard County already has nine other public menorah displays, would I go through the trouble and effort to put up a 10th one, and in this rural area no less?
The reason came from a local mom, who two weeks prior had heard the news that a menorah was soon to be put up in Cooksville and took to social media to share why this project was meaningful to her. This woman had recently taken her young daughters holiday shopping at the crafts store Michaels. Their excitement and joy turned to disappointment and heartbreak when all they found was a scant selection of Chanukah decorations. She wrote, “We all deserve to feel the joy of Chanukah being celebrated and visible.” The public menorah, she said, helped her and her children feel seen.
This is why we make the effort — so that every Jewish child in Howard County feels seen, feels represented and like they matter. Putting up a menorah comes at great expense — from the thousands of dollars to purchase it to the time it takes to secure permitting and coordinate with local officials, as well as planning and facilitating the menorah-lighting ceremonies.
The other reason we put up the menorah is because while Howard County has around 10,000 Jewish households, just 25% are involved with organized Jewish life. We put up these menorahs because they are an accessible way for people to connect with their Jewish heritage while also building Jewish pride and confidence.
Our Cooksville menorah is part of a great legacy of public menorahs. This year marks 50 years since the first public menorah was lit in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, home of the Liberty Bell. In 1974, Rabbi Abraham Shemtov constructed a crude wooden menorah and lit it, marking the world’s first recorded public menorah lighting. Rabbi Shemtov did this as part of the Rebbe’s — Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory — Chanukah awareness campaign, launched a year earlier to spread Chanukah observance around the world.
The following year, this phenomenon grew. In San Francisco, legendary rock music promoter Bill Graham erected a towering 22-foot mahogany menorah in Union Square. A menorah was soon lit on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, mounted atop a station wagon, making it the first car-top menorah in the world. In 1979, the movement reached the White House when President Jimmy Carter lit a menorah on the White House South Lawn.
Fast forward half a century, and there are now more than 15,000 public menorah lightings worldwide — from New York’s Fifth Avenue to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The tradition extends to remote towns and villages, military bases and even prisons.
Howard County hosts seven public menorah lighting ceremonies, as well as a car-top menorah parade and an interactive Chanukah house in Ellicott City. These public menorahs and Chanukah displays are not merely decorative; they are a sign and symbol to every Jewish child that they matter and that they are represented.
Historically, Jews lit the menorah to celebrate the ancient victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian-Greek army some 2,100 years ago, but up until half a century ago, Jews kept their celebrations of Chanukah private, confined to their homes and synagogues. Today, the menorah returned to the public square, becoming the most visible symbol of Jewish pride and resilience.
Whether it’s a young girl who feels joy seeing her traditions represented publicly, or someone who’s concerned about rising antisemitism who sees a towering affirmation that they too belong in this country, these public displays are a powerful symbol of religious freedom, hope and cultural representation.
The Rebbe once shared a message about Jewish pride: “There is no reason really in this free country to hide one’s Jewishness, as if it were contrary or inimical to American life and culture. On the contrary, it is fully in keeping with the American national slogan ‘e pluribus unum’ and the fact that American culture has been enriched by the thriving ethnic cultures which contributed very much, each in its own way, to American life both materially and spiritually.”
So if you see a menorah this Chanukah — from the lawn of the White House to rural Maryland — remember that it represents more than a holiday observance. It stands for freedom, representation of all people and the universal hope we all have for a better world.
Rabbi Yanky Baron is the director of the Chabad of Ellicott City, which he founded in 2019 and co-directs with his wife Leah. For more information, visit https://www.chabadellicottcity.com/.