CHANUKAH LIGHTING AT TOWN HALL

To the Town Hall this evening, for the seventh annual celebration of Chanukah here. There's a good turnout and Council Chamber appears full.. Harry and Grace have come with me. There's a fairly lively 50-minute programme, introduced by Tony Nelson, who represents the Leicester Hebrew Congregation on the Council of Faiths (of which he is the current Vice Chair). There are upbeat contributions from David Parsons, Leader of Leicestershire County Council, and Cllr Colin Hall, Lord Mayor of Leicester.

We get to see two video presentations: one accompanies a rap entitled "I'm a Maccabee", performed vivaciously by two of Rabbi Pink's young sons; the other video presentation takes as its refrain the popular phrase, "Yes we can". During this one, I reflect on the nature of Chanukah as the principal occasion in the Jewish calendar when the community is encouraged to proclaim its identity and celebrate its qualities in the wider world - because they can. Made me think about how this week started, with me being asked for an inter faith response to the "Not Ashamed" campaign, led by former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey.

Oh, and I'd forgotten just how much singing goes along with this event - and all the clapping too! Honestly, my hands feel like they'd had six of the best by the end of the evening.

The central feature was the lighting of the lights on the giant menorah which dominated the platform by Rabbi Pink, perched precariously on a ladder, bearing the taper lit by the Lord Mayor. A few concerend whispers about health and safety drift by my ear ...

Latkes and pastries follow, much to the children's delight.

As the evening draws to a close, I manage to carry out five video interviews for the Council of Faiths YouTube channel. Harry joins in, making audio recordings at the same time on his phone. I had to tell him afterward that he was poking his phone a bit too close into the face of his subjects. He said he thought that might be the case when the Rabbi accidentally bumped into the phone while telling the story of the historical origins of Chanukah.