Merrick menorah lighting aims for record

The Festival of Lights is going to be extra bright in Merrick this year.

Hundreds of Jews will gather at the Merrick Jewish Centre Wednesday on the second night of Hanukkah to try to break the world record for the most menorahs lit at the same time.

Rabbi Charles Klein said he expects between 700 and 1,000 people to bring menorahs to his synagogue at 7 p.m.

The current world record was set in 2009, when 358 people lit menorahs simultaneously at a Moscow nightclub.

"We're really trying to smash the record," Klein said. "I think we're going to very well break it."

Each participant will bring a menorah -- a nine-branched candelabrum also known as a hanukkiah -- to the Merrick synagogue, lighting it as independent observers count the menorahs and an outside religious expert oversees the process.

Lighting the menorah is perhaps one of the most well-known aspects of Hanukkah, a holiday on the Jewish calendar that begins Tuesday at sundown.

Hanukkah marks the rededication of the ancient temple in Jerusalem, which was defiled by the oppressive Syrian-Greek Antiochus regime in 168 BCE. After a band of Jewish rebels known as the Maccabees fought back and regained the temple, they discovered enough oil to light the temple's menorah for a single day.

The oil instead lasted eight days in what became known as the Hanukkah miracle.

Jews celebrate by eating foods cooked in oil, such as latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly-filled doughnuts), and light an increasing number of candles for eight nights.

Klein said his synagogue's effort to set a record is perfect for Hanukkah.

"The tradition is to publicize the miracle," Klein said. "That's what the menorah is supposed to do. It is the way we publicize the miracle of Hanukkah. What better way to really, really publicize it in a very powerful way?"