Hannukkah at the Santa Monica Pier

Published on December 1, 2020

Light the Menorah for the third night of Hannukkah on the most western point of mainland USA.

Hannukkah begins this year on Thursday, December 10th 2020 and ends the evening of Friday, December 18th. The Santa Monica Pier will host Chabad of S. Monica on the third evening of the holiday for a Menorah lighting at sunset on Sunday, December 13th. Sunset occurs around 4:30PM. Everyone is welcome to join; the event is outside and free to attend.

Hannukkah is the Jewish, eight-day wintertime “festival of lights” honoring the defeat of the Greeks in Israel and the miracle of lighting the Holy Temple’s Menorah for eight nights with only one-day supply of oil. It is typically celebrated by saying special prayers and blessings while lighting one candle on the Menorah each night at sundown. The second night, two candles are lit and so on and so forth until the eighth night when all eight candles have flames.

WHAT:
Menorah lighting for the third night of Hannukkah

WHEN:
4:30PM on Sunday, December 13

WHERE:
West end of the Santa Monica Pier

Fun fact: you may see Hannukkah spelled a variety of ways, like Chanukah or Hanukah. Out of approximately 16 acceptable spellings, Hannukkah is the most popular in today’s English followed by Chanukah, a more traditional spelling. The reason for the various spellings is because there is no literal translation from the Hebrew word to English, so it has adapted over time to different ways of pronunciation.

Photo by Fabian Lewkowicz.