After having been cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, the Alpert Jewish Community Center (AJCC) and Jewish Long Beach are bringing back their annual Chanukah, also spelled Hanukkah, celebration on Tuesday, Nov. 30.
This year’s celebration will be larger than any from past years, with the AJCC and Jewish Long Beach extending their holiday programming.
“This year to celebrate our return to in-person programming, and I think everybody’s enthusiasm for being back together, we are expanding it,” said CEO Zachary Benjamin of Jewish Long Beach. “We’re partnering with one of the local congregations and offering something just a little bigger and better for the whole community.”
The outdoor celebration will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 30, the third day of Chanukah, at 3801 E Willow St.
During the Chanukah celebration, the third candle on the Chanukah menorah, also known as a Chanukhiah, will be lit.
The event will also feature latkes, crafts, live music and more.
“There’s such a big difference between gathering on Zoom and seeing ourselves as kind of blurry images on devices, relative to coming together and singing and eating and celebrating together as a community and as friends, family and human beings,” Benjamin said. “So I just think there’s a lot of excitement.”
The event is free and open to the entire community.
“This celebration is open to all,” Benjamin said. “You do not have to be Jewish.”
Attendees are strongly encouraged to bring non-perishable food items on Nov. 30 to donate to the Jewish Family & Childrens’ Services’ Food Pantry.
A new 21+ event will also be held on Dec. 9 to celebrate the end of Chanukah.
The “9th Night” celebration will take place the day after Chanukah ends, Dec. 9, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m at the Long Beach Beer Lab. Tickets cost $15 and can be purchased on the AJCC’s website.
The nighttime event will feature kosher food, craft beer and live music.
“We’re really pulling out all the stops,” Benjamin said. “And that’s really a response, I think, to the community’s desire to be back together in person.”
