Hanukkah celebration brings together different faiths, collects items for refugees
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The Jewish Community Center in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood celebrated the first day of Hanukkah on Sunday, but not without the help of several community organizations with Jewish, Muslim and Christian faith backgrounds.
“Given that we’re living in divisive times, we feel like the more we can come together and show all of our community that Pittsburgh is about welcoming the stranger, and that’s very much one of the Jewish values in particular,” said Sara Stock Mayo, a co-leader of the Squirrel Hill chapter of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, who helped organize the day’s activities.
The event was a collaboration with several community partners: the community center, two Pittsburgh chapters of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom (Squirrel Hill and South Hills), a national organization of Muslim and Jewish women; PJ Library, which promotes Jewish literacy and J&R Camp, the community center’s day camp program.
Beginning at 2 p.m., community members and volunteers brought in donations of diapers, baby clothes, winterwear and other items for refugees in Pittsburgh. Items were donated to the Jewish Family and Children Services’ refugee program and the Somali Bantu Community Association.
Children were also invited to make cards for the “new residents,” said Stock Mayo, and the packages also included homemade fleece baby blankets and baked goods.
“It’s so that everyone in Pittsburgh will know that they are embraced, and in the coldest time of year, that they can feel warmth and that they’re a part of a community,” said Rabbi Ron Symons.
It was the first year the community center had collaborated with the Sisterhood, and the first Hanukkah since the center refurbished its menorah. Symons said around 250 people of varying faith traditions attended.
“We thought it was a great way to rededicate ourselves, especially given what life has been like,” he said. “This is community at its best.”
Stock Mayo said the collaboration was a special way of promoting a community that transcends cultural and religious differences. The event was about finding places of commonality and “places where people can feel seen,” Stock Mayo said.
“You’re here now, you’re a Pittsburgher, too,” she said.
The day concluded with a ceremonial lighting of the community center’s refurbished menorah.
Two bulbs were lit, to celebrate the first of the eight-day celebration.
“The beauty is that as we go from day to day, night to night, it’s going to get brighter and brighter,” Symons said.