On a scenic bluff overlooking Hanalei Bay, about 120 participants gathered at the St. Regis resort hotel in Princeville, Hawaii, last week with a tiki-torch menorah, live entertainment and potato latkes for the world’s final public menorah-lighting of the year.

“Everything we do is last because we’re in the westernmost time zone, and we’re the westernmost island. It’s about wrapping Chanukah up for Jews around the world. It’s the finale,” notes Rabbi Michoel Goldman of Chabad Kauai.

This year, they got to share the scenery and the experience with the world.

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“We lit one menorah after the next. We divided the hour into four quarters—Oahu, Maui, the Big Island and us—so we could all participate in one another’s lightings,” explains Goldman.

Every location had two laptops (one to upload and one to download), as well as a big-screen TV or two, and a feed coming to them from producers in New York. There were camera crews and wires and sound systems—all to make Chanukah even more special on this, a Hakhel year, with its focus on unity gatherings, and rededication to Torah study and mitzvot.

The biblical Hakhel took place once every seven years at the conclusion of the Sabbatical (Shemittah) year, and brought Jewish men, women and children to the Temple in Jerusalem to be inspired by the Torah, which was read by the king. During Hakhel years past, the Lubavitcher Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—would regularly urge Jews worldwide to assemble and inspire one another to increase in Torah observance and study.

Milestone Event in a Milestone Year

All told, Chabad-Lubavitch set up more than 15,000 large public menorahs around the world this year, with Chabad-sponsored events and celebrations reaching more than 8 million Jews—more than half the world’s Jewish population.

Public lightings and Chanukah events were held in more than 80 countries around the world. Additionally, 5,000 menorah-topped cars hit the roads this year, creating holiday awareness in cities, towns and rural areas nearly everywhere.

The Hawaii celebrations were coordinated around the state and streamed live around the world.
The Hawaii celebrations were coordinated around the state and streamed live around the world.

“I think it was a milestone event,” says Goldman of this year’s intertwined festivities in Hawaii. The notion of celebrating Chanukah at the same time as other Jewish communities around the state was inspiring to people, he says. “We’re utilizing technology to bridge communities on different islands for a higher purpose—to spread the light of Chanukah. The concept was phenomenal.”

Former governor Linda Lingle recorded a message for the event, as did U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz. The simulcast also contained screened footage of the Rebbe talking about Hawaii, and the importance of encouraging Jewish study and practice there.

The celebrations, which took technical preparation and coordination, gave members of their congregation a sense of being part of something bigger. “I met one of our congregation’s longtime members; he was so delighted,” says Pearl Krasnjansky, co-director of Chabad of Hawaii. “He said it really gave him a feeling of being connected to the larger Jewish community, which is very important because we are geographically fairly isolated.”

Rabbi Itche Krasnjansky, co-director of Chabad of Hawaii
Rabbi Itche Krasnjansky, co-director of Chabad of Hawaii

Robert Nowbakht, of Great Neck, N.Y., goes to Hawaii about five times a year for work. On Sunday, Nowbakht, who works in sales, and his wife Sara tuned in at 10 p.m. New York time to see what was happening.

“It was really interesting for us to be a part of it because we know some of the community members, and the rabbi and his wife,” he says. “I even texted one of the people to say, ‘I saw you sing on live-stream.’ ”

There were lightings and celebrations for children.
There were lightings and celebrations for children.
A rabbinical student helps a celebrant don tefillin.
A rabbinical student helps a celebrant don tefillin.