Local members of Jewish faith gather to mark the start of Hanukkah
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - On the first night of Hanukkah, members of the Jewish community were refusing to let hate dim their light.
One man KDKA spoke to Sunday night said although it's present in the world, he doesn't like to focus on the darkness.
Instead, he said, he looks at the positives happening around him, adding that even just a little bit of light can expel the darkness from any room.
It sounds like a celebration in Squirrel Hill.
From soup to nuts, or in this case, beans to yams.
A menorah made entirely of canned goods was put together not only to symbolize the message of Hanukkah but to also give back.
"We live in an era [where] if you don't do something unusual, no one looks your way. So, we've got to do something to catch attention," rabbi Yisroel Altein said.
However, a rise in antisemitism across the country is also catching a lot of attention.
A recent report from the Anti-Defamation League shows that anti-semitic incidents have gone up 200% in the past five years, with our area, western Pa., breaking a record in 2021 for the most incidents reported since the 1970s when the anti-hate organization started keeping track.
"Our answer to antisemitism is not to cower away and to shy away from it, but to come out and show everyone that love and kindness will ultimately prevail and it will win over everything," rabbi Yitzi Goldwasser said.
Displays of that love, kindness, and resilient attitude were evident during Sunday's celebrations.
Both in Squirrel Hill and Greenfield.
"Just to come together and just be one family essentially, one community, it's an amazing feeling," Yitzy Idell said. Idell serves on the Greenfield Community Association Board.
A feeling Jews everywhere will hold in high regard while reaffirming their faith over the eight-day festival of lights.
"Each night we add an additional candle so we bring in more light into the world," Idell added.
Light, members of Pittsburgh's Jewish community said, is so desperately needed.
"Spread the light to your neighbor, to a friend, check on someone, spread the light of Hanukkah, the message of Hanukkah, the warmth and the love and the kindness, and together we'll make the world a bigger, a better, a brighter place," Goldwasser added.
Hanukkah celebrations will be taking place across the city over the next eight days, including a Hanukkah festival in Schenley Plaza.