Wondering how to spend your Hanukkah? This Gulfport synagogue has you covered.
Congregation Beth Israel is hosting a community-wide Hanukkah carnival in Gulfport at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 18. The celebration will be complete with food, latkes, a bounce house, face painting, arts and crafts, fair games, a cash raffle, and a ceremonial lighting of the state’s largest menorah.
The carnival will take place on the first night of Hanukkah outside the Beth Israel synagogue at 12277 Three Rivers Road in Gulfport.
“We’re the only synagogue on the Gulf Coast ... and this is the second year that we’ve been having this kind of event,” said Rabbi Akiva Hall. “The idea is it is a community-wide celebration of the holiday of Hanukkah. Everyone is invited. It also functions kind of as a fundraiser for the year for our synagogue.”
Tickets are available for purchase at the event. There is a small admission fee to enter. Meal tickets will be sold for $18 and a combo meal and kids bracelet will be sold for $25. The kids bracelet will give kids access to crafts, rides, face painting, and other activities. Raffle tickets will also be sold for $5 a piece.
Hall told the Sun Herald that the carnival is a re-imagined, larger-scale version of the annual Hanukkah party that the synagogue has hosted since the 1960s.
“I think the best part of it is, it’s one of the times of the year where we see a lot of our community, a lot of people who don’t necessarily come the rest of the year,” Hall said. “It’s a really well attended community event and I think probably my favorite part is being able to see my whole community come together.”
One of the main events of the night will be the lighting of an 8-foot-tall menorah, which volunteers from Beth Israel will use torches to set aflame.
“The message of Hanukkah is that despite darkness and despite negative odds, despite terrible things, if people have faith and hope and we try our best to spread light, that really makes the difference no matter how dark the world seems,” Rabbi Hall said. “And by lighting the menorah out in a public place, in the dark, gathered together with people, that really sends that message.”
Light Up The Night at Quakes
The menorah will make another appearance at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 20, for Congregation Beth Israel’s second Hanukkah celebration at Quakes Ice Cream (1922 Bienville Blvd) in Ocean Springs. This is another annual event that the synagogue has been hosting for the last five years. There is no admission fee and the event will include refreshments, food, music, and kids crafts.
According to Hall, the Quakes event was inspired by the ice creamery owner’s father, who passed away before the event’s inception and was a proud and vocal member of the coastal Jewish community. Celebrating at Quakes is also meant to give members of the Jewish community who may be unable to make it to the Gulfport carnival an opportunity to join a Hanukkah celebration.
Hall sees these two events as opportunities to encourage engagement among the Jewish community, as well as instill a sense of pride and belonging. He also sees it as an opportunity for non-Jewish coastal community members to show their support and have a good time.
“I think the real idea is it should be a catalyst to inspire people to be more involved and more active, and for those members of our community that are not Jewish – the wider Coast community – I think that it’s an amazing way of showing solidarity and showing support and showing your Jewish friends that they matter,” Hall said. “The message of Hanukkah is really a message that everybody can appreciate: that we have to do our part in a dark world, and we can each add our own little light to the world and bring goodness in a very tangible way.”
For more information, visit www.cbigulfcoast.org. If you have questions, call 228-539-1655 or email cbi1818@yahoo.com.
The Matzo Ball at 100 Men Hall
For those who are not in Gulfport or Ocean Springs, another Hanukkah event called the Matzo Ball will be held from 6-8 p.m. on Dec. 18 at 100 Men Hall (303 Union Street) in Bay St. Louis. The event is a concert that is being put on for its fifth consecutive year and will feature holiday songs sung by Meryl Zimmerman & The Miracles. The Matzo Ball will also include the lighting of a Hanukkah menorah and the dropping of a giant matzo ball in celebration of all winter holidays.
Tickets are $15 if bought in advance at https://the100menhall.com/ and $20 at the door. Food from Beachside, including latkes, will be available for purchase at the event. For more information, call Rachel Dangermond at 415-336-9543 or email 100menhall@gmail.com.
