DETROIT – The annual Lighting of the Menorah took place Thursday night in downtown Detroit. But after the attack on Israel and now the war in Gaza, there were heightened security concerns as well as the potential for protests.
The Menorah in the D celebration is set to take place as it does annually, with music, Dancing Dreidels, and a lot of light and love for families.
But world events cast a long shadow.
“The theme of Hanukkah is that when we see darkness, and there is darkness in the world because sometimes darkness is on a personal level, Hanukkah tells us to go and take a candle, find within your heart in your reservoir of your soul, and you can light up the world,” said Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov, the Vice President of Chabad Lubavitch of Michigan.
There is a substantial police presence downtown Thursday night, as there is for any major event.
The Detroit Police Department is deploying its high-security event protocols, which means there will be police on the ground and in the air looking for signs of any problems.
To be clear, no threats have been made against the event. And like with the tree lighting, the security, while visible, is still made to make people have a seamless experience.
“So we will have three different entry points to go into the event, we will have three different involved systems which does not require anything other than just walking through,” said Detroit police Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald. “Weare not slowing anything up.”
The lightning of the Menorah will take place at 6:05 p.m.
