'This is our welcome back party': Temple Isaiah celebrates Hanukkah amid COVID-19

While describing the meaning of Hanukkah, Rabbi Steven Rosenberg of Temple Isaiah in Palm Springs emphasized the holiday’s meaning of rededication after a year of COVID-19 protocols preventing in-person gatherings.

To celebrate the first night of Hanukkah on Sunday, 25 members of the synagogue gathered for an outdoor menorah lighting ceremony in the parking lot.

“In a lot of ways, this is our welcome back party,” Rosenberg told The Desert Sun. “By lighting the candles, we are rededicating ourselves to our community.”

Members Burt and Linda Lewensohn of Palm Springs said they struggled to celebrate Jewish holidays over Zoom, and like many other senior citizens, are not very tech-savvy. Burt checks vaccination cards at the door and Linda serves as a board member of Temple Isaiah and is the “Sisterhood President” of the synagogue.

After a year of isolation, Burt said going back into the temple feels like “coming back into your home.”

“I grew up in the temple, I missed it and now it’s open,” Burt Lewensohn said.

The couple moved to the area from Los Angeles in 2019, six months before the pandemic began, and found the synagogue to be a lifeline for meeting other people. Linda said they were “isolated” for over a year in a new community where they didn’t know anyone.

“(Temple Isaiah) is where we met the only people we knew at the time,” Linda Lewensohn said. “This is your home, family, and where you feel comfortable. All of a sudden, that disappeared.”

Temple Isaiah Board of Directors President Mitchel Karp said it was important to put the services online for everybody, and the temple continues to stream services for those who can’t attend, adding there is concern about the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron.

“We’ll have to monitor that,” Karp said. “We are trying to get ahead of everything, but we don’t want to endanger anybody, and that’s really important.”

When the single light and the shamash (the attendant candle) of the menorah lit up, Rosenberg led the congregation in singing the three blessings of Hanukkah in Hebrew. At the end of the 10-minute ceremony, he spoke about the importance of rededication after a hard year.

“Hanukkah reminds us that our ideals are enough to fight for our religious freedom and freedom from persecution, no matter what our background is, who we love or how we believe. That is really important,” Rosenberg told the congregation.

In Rancho Mirage, Chabad of Rancho Mirage marked the first night of Hanukkah with a celebration at The River Amphitheater.

Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye. Support local news, subscribe to The Desert Sun.

Desert Sun photographer Taya Gray contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Temple Isaiah celebrates Hanukkah amid COVID-19