Hanukkah Embraces "Spirit of Religious Freedom"

December 10, 2001

Source: The Boston Herald

On December 10, 2001, The Boston Herald reported that "more than 200 Jews from around the region gathered yesterday at sundown in Downtown Crossing [Boston] as Mayor Thomas M. Menino lit a giant 15-foot menorah to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah. 'Hanukkah represents the first documented fight for freedom of religion and freedom from oppression. It is appropriate for this Hanukkah event to honor the troops in Afghanistan because that is exactly what they're fighting for,' said Rabbi Rachmiel Liberman of the Lubavitch-Jewish Educational Center of Massachusetts, which sponsored the ceremony."