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Dec. 22, 2006
A light unto city shoppers
Rabbi leads a bid to have menorot placed in stores.
KATHARINE HAMER EDITOR
Rabbi Shmulik Yeshayahu is on a mission to light up Vancouver.
Last month, the spiritual leader of the Ohel Ya'akov Community Kollel
thought it would be good to try and have some menorot placed in
storefronts around town. Now, there are almost three dozen chanukiyot
glowing in windows around the city alongside the more commonly sighted
Christmas decorations.
It's not about religion, said Yeshayahu, as much as the notion that,
"Chanukah is a holiday of the power of the individual. When
you think about the meaning of the holiday, we're talking about
a few hundred people who really felt that they could change the
world. And to overcome the Greeks in those days, and especially
today, when we're fighting so much darkness, every individual has
a responsibility to actually do it on his own; to have more light,
especially in Vancouver. It's a very multicultural city and there
are a lot of people who are very welcoming of other cultures, other
traditions, and I thought it would be nice if we had menorot everywhere
in the stores."
The response to the rabbi's project has been overwhelming –
both from business owners who've agreed to put up a menorah and
from Jewish shoppers and employees who've seen them.
"I put a menorah in a big company in Richmond, MDA, they have
over 800 employees," said Yeshayahu, "and he said to me,
the president, that actually one of the guys was visiting from Ontario
and he's a Jewish guy. He was moved by the menorah – for 20
minutes, he talked and talked and talked about it.
"A lot of Jewish people, they're not necessarily involved in
the Jewish community, especially in Vancouver, so many of them are
unaffiliated, they go in to buy shoes, clothes, you know, anything
else they buy, and they see a menorah there wishing them 'Happy
Chanukah' and it's kind of a surprise, to see a menorah in the store.
And it really wakes them and makes them more connected, they see
Vancouver becoming a more Jewish city and more open to Judaism."
Yeshayahu has been aided in his mission by young Jewish professionals
like Jhennia Solovyov and Independent columnist and event
planner Rory Richards. Both saw an equally enthusiastic response
when they asked about placing menorot in windows.
"I went out into the pouring rain," Richards recalled.
"It was the night of the storm, the eve of Chanukah, and I
went into businesses on Denman Street and I asked for the owner.
I said, 'I live in the neighborhood and I'm Jewish and I got a call
from the rabbi and he said he had these menorahs.' I said, 'You
know, there's Christmas decorations everywhere and it's erev Chanukah
and there's no Jewish anything anywhere and we need for people to
see that it's Chanukah. Do you think that you think can put the
menorah up so people will know that it's Chanukah? '
"They said, 'Of course! We'd love to!' And two of the places
I went to were restaurants. When I got the go-ahead, I put it together
right in the restaurant, screwed it in and everything, and when
I plugged it in, the whole restaurant burst into applause. The response
was amazing. Both had Jewish staff and there was a Jewish family
in one – they just kept thanking me profusely for doing it.
It was just absolutely wonderful."
"I like to get people in the community to do it," said
Yeshayahu, "not coming from a rabbi. They could do a better
job than I could do, they did a wonderful job. People do it from
their own good heart – me, it's kind of like my mission and
people like to have their own life and their own career and they
come in and find the time, the few minutes, to ask a very sweet
request, it's kind of a meaningful holiday for us. The idea is the
power of the individual. One person [can] go and ask, 'Can we have
this menorah symbolizing the number eight, the miracle, the survival,
all of this, to have in the store?' "
Yeshayahu believes that having the menorot up "really brings
[Jewish workers] pride. They find Vancouver is a city that Judaism
is kind of hidden and there's no point of pointing this part out,
my Judaism. And then, suddenly, walking on the street, you see menorah
there, menorah there, they're kind of, 'Wow!' Like Vancouver [has]
become a Jewish city. You know in New York, you'll find, at Chanukah
time, many menorot in many, many stores, but in Vancouver, barely
you'll find it. It's an electric menorah, it's very safe, and it's
beautiful, very shiny, [it] stands out. I put one on 4th Avenue,
the lady in the store tells me, there's so many people come in and
say, 'Wow, Happy Chanukah!' It's so nice to see it."
"It's important for Vancouver, where my daughter is [being]
raised, to have the Jewishness present in our surroundings,"
said Solovyov. "When Joella [her year-old daughter] is old
enough, she will pass a store where there is a menorah and she will
feel even more proud to be Jewish."
Yeshayahu said the menorah project will begin much earlier next
year. A committee will be set up to encourage more volunteers to
request menorah placements. He also believes that next year, more
businesses will call the Kollel asking about where to get a menorah.
"It's all about timing," he said. "Let's say this
year, we got 35 of them. Next year, God willing, we'll have more
than 100 and then 200 and 300. We will get the phone calls from
many, many companies."
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