LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Hanukkah, the festival of Lights, officially started after sunset on Thursday evening.
For Jewish community members in Central Arkansas, it comes with much on their minds.
"I'm proud to be Jewish [and] I'm proud to be celebrating Hanukkah," Rabbi Barry Block of Temple B'nai Israel said. "To acknowledge that even at a time of rising antisemitism, we're going to celebrate joyfully and publicly."
Although Thursday is a day to celebrate miracles, Block said it's understandable that some may not feel the spirit of the holiday.
"Even when I was a young Rabbi, I would have told you that antisemitism was something to talk about in terms of history," Block said. "Now, tragically, we're talking about it in real-time."
As the sun set on the first night of Hanukkah, dozens gathered at Centennial Bank in Little Rock to light the menorah.
"The Jewish people will always persevere, no matter what is coming," Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. "No matter what is happening around them."
It's a time to reflect on the perseverance of their ancestors and those still here.
"There's a reality of being at a time of war right now," Rabbi Pinchus Ciment of Chabad Lubavitch of Arkansas said. "So that's the pressure, the weight, which sounds new, but at the same time, that's the one thing they would want is to celebrate."
Not all at the menorah lighting were there for that. Just across the street, demonstrators gathered, chanting for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Ciment said he heard that, but he's focused on one thing.
"I was really focused on the positive parts over here," Ciment said. "In a very proud way, that Jewish identity, and do so without any fear of anxiety or fear of lonesome, they can come out in a very safe way and celebrate."
Many conversations about things happening here and on the other side of the world still need to be had. However, Block said his focus was evident Thursday night.
"I know that there are Jewish people across the world today, including here in the United States, including here in Central Arkansas, who are afraid to put their Hanukkah lights in the window, afraid that that will elicit an antisemitic, maybe even a violent response," Block said. "We must not be afraid. We have an absolute obligation to advertise the miracle and to stand up proudly and say, 'I'm a Jew.'"
The menorah at 520 S Bowman Road in Little Rock will be lit each night during Hanukkah.
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