Greenfield menorah lighting spreads message that ‘a little bit of light dispels a tremendous amount of darkness’

Greenfield Board of Assessors Chair Jim Geisman speaks before lighting the menorah on the Greenfield Common with Jasper Lapienski on the sixth day of Hanukkah on Monday.

Greenfield Board of Assessors Chair Jim Geisman speaks before lighting the menorah on the Greenfield Common with Jasper Lapienski on the sixth day of Hanukkah on Monday. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Greenfield Board of Assessors Chair Jim Geisman lights the menorah on the Greenfield Common with Jasper Lapienski on the sixth day of Hanukkah on Monday.

Greenfield Board of Assessors Chair Jim Geisman lights the menorah on the Greenfield Common with Jasper Lapienski on the sixth day of Hanukkah on Monday. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Greenfield Board of Assessors Chair Jim Geisman speaks before lighting the menorah on the Greenfield Common with Jasper Lapienski on the sixth day of Hanukkah on Monday.

Greenfield Board of Assessors Chair Jim Geisman speaks before lighting the menorah on the Greenfield Common with Jasper Lapienski on the sixth day of Hanukkah on Monday. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Greenfield Board of Assessors Chair Jim Geisman lights the menorah on the Greenfield Common with Jasper Lapienski on the sixth day of Hanukkah on Monday.

Greenfield Board of Assessors Chair Jim Geisman lights the menorah on the Greenfield Common with Jasper Lapienski on the sixth day of Hanukkah on Monday. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Greenfield Board of Assessors Chair Jim Geisman lights the menorah on the Greenfield Common with Jasper Lapienski on the sixth day of Hanukkah on Monday.

Greenfield Board of Assessors Chair Jim Geisman lights the menorah on the Greenfield Common with Jasper Lapienski on the sixth day of Hanukkah on Monday. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Two friends take a selfie at a Hanukkah potato pancake social at the Greenfield Public Library on Monday evening.

Two friends take a selfie at a Hanukkah potato pancake social at the Greenfield Public Library on Monday evening. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

People dance to the JCA Klezmer Ensemble at a Hanukkah potato pancake social at the Greenfield Public Library on Monday evening.

People dance to the JCA Klezmer Ensemble at a Hanukkah potato pancake social at the Greenfield Public Library on Monday evening. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

A Hanukkah potato pancake social was held at the Greenfield Public Library following the lighting of the menorah on the Greenfield Common on the sixth day of Hanukkah on Monday evening.

A Hanukkah potato pancake social was held at the Greenfield Public Library following the lighting of the menorah on the Greenfield Common on the sixth day of Hanukkah on Monday evening. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

By ADA DENENFELD KELLY

For the Recorder

Published: 12-31-2024 11:44 AM

GREENFIELD — Residents gathered Monday evening for the second annual celebration of light and warmth with the lighting of the Hanukkah menorah on the Greenfield Common.

“This moment rests on 2,000 years of my ancestors keeping this tradition alive. I’m privileged to be the one to bring this to you today,” said Jasper Lapienski, the ceremony’s organizer and leader of the Greenfield Orthodox Coalition. “[The menorah] is a Jewish symbol, but its message of light and warmth is intended for everyone.”

Lapienski noted he was excited to see a larger crowd than the year prior. He considers that a sign of success, as the event’s goal is to reach as many people as possible.

A Hanukkah menorah has nine candles, one for each of the eight nights of Hanukkah, as well as a ninth candle, elevated from the others, called the shamash, which is used to light the other candles. Greenfield Mayor Ginny Desorgher lit the shamash on Monday, stating, “It’s an honor to be here with everyone to celebrate the miracle of light.”

As she is not Jewish, Desorgher could not light the rest of the menorah, so Greenfield Board of Assessors Chair Jim Geisman stepped in for her.

Geisman recited the prayers that are traditional for the ceremony before lighting the candles. Although it had been many years since he had last lit a menorah, Geisman said he was enthusiastic about participating in the event.

As Geisman lit six candles for the sixth night of Hanukkah, Rabbi Chaim Adelman of the Chabad House in Amherst handed out glow sticks. Several members of the crowd began singing, “Don’t let the light go out — it’s lasted so many years.”

The illumination ceremony was followed by a gathering in the Greenfield Public Library with latkes — potato pancakes that are traditionally eaten on Hanukkah — as well as music from the JCA Klezmer Ensemble. Adelman gave a lecture on the history of Hanukkah and Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener, the former leader of Temple Israel in Greenfield, spoke about the work of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, whose work she translates.

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Several attendees expressed gratitude for the public menorah during what they described as a time of immense darkness and division.

Greenfield resident Ruth Witty said she was happy to have a menorah on the common during a time of “so many troubles,” with war in the Middle East and political division in the United States.

“It’s really important to have a menorah in public, so that everybody can see that we are spreading light,” Witty said. “It’s symbolic. There’s a lot of darkness in the world … so [we’re] bringing light.”

This sentiment echoed the theme for the illumination ceremony — “a little bit of light dispels a tremendous amount of darkness,” as Rabbi Yoseph Gottlieb of the Chabad House in Amherst explained. The phrase is a Chabad teaching that Gottlieb felt was particularly relevant to the current moment.

“When a person does something good, it continues on throughout the entire world, and it makes a difference,” Gottlieb said.

Lapienski emphasized the importance of the sense of community and multiculturalism that he believes the menorah brings to Greenfield.

He also expressed gratitude to Doug Clarke, a member of the organization Keep Christ in Christmas, which organizes the nativity scene next to the menorah on the common, for his enthusiasm for having a menorah next to the nativity scene, “side by side, shoulder to shoulder.” He also thanked the restaurant Terrazza, a Muslim-owned business and event sponsor.

“We have Jews, Christians and Muslims together here, supporting each other in lifting this community up from darkness into light,” Lapienski said. “Greenfield has been on an advertising campaign for itself recently. We’ve been trying to say, ‘Look, we have farmers markets and we have artists and musicians.’ If you want to know why people should love Greenfield, should come here to shop, to live here, this is the best advertisement for Greenfield that you’re going to be able to get and this is what should be distributed throughout all of these campaigns. Because where else in the world today can you say that the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims are all on the same page?”