The city of brotherly love celebrated the Festival of Lights in style this weekend. The 2024 Philly Chanukah Parade took place in Philadelphia on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024.
The family-friendly event featured music, cars outfitted with giant menorahs, crafts, treats, face-painting, a gelt drop, a fire juggler and more.
An endless stream of cars with menorahs rolled through the streets of Philadelphia for the annual parade, which began at 7 p.m. on 21st Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
The parade ended with families across the area gathering at Independence Mall for the lighting of the menorah.
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“It’s magical,” Shanee Oiknine told NBC10. “It’s a holiday that celebrates light and Judaism and we love it.”
In the Jewish faith, lighting the menorah commemorates the Maccabean revolt against the Syrian-Greek Army and how the celebratory menorah burned for eight days even though there was only enough oil for one.
“When you have light, it dispels everything,” Lois Yampolsky, one of the event organizers, told NBC10. “And so, seeing 100 cars with 100 Hanukkah menorahs lit, it’s a very powerful message.”
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This year marks a major milestone for the Jewish faith and Philadelphia. In 1974, Rabbi Yehuda Shemtov’s father Abraham was the first person in the world to light a menorah on public property. Saturday night, he did it at the same spot on Independence Mall.
“This is the first phenomenon of taking the menorah out of the home, out of the synagogue, out of your Jewish center and publicly displaying your joy and celebration,” the Rabbi said.
Those who attended Saturday’s parade were reminded that light is the only thing that forces out darkness.
“We light the menorah when it’s dark,” Rabbi Shemtov said. “Not during the day. Because darkness can become very overwhelming. And when we are living in dark times, challenging times, and critical times, we should always know that darkness doesn’t have the last say. And there’s nothing too dark that you cannot introduce a flame and lighten it up a little bit.”
