The annual State House Menorah lighting will take place today Thursday, December 26 at 4:30 p.m. The event will take place on the State House lawn and is open to the general public.
The Governor welcomes Vermonters to the State House to light the State House menorah for the second night of Hanukkah. The ceremony, led by Rabbi Eliyahu Junik, will include live music.
Latkes, sufganiyot, and games of dreidel will be available in the State House while the Governor reads a Hanukkah story to children in his State House Office.
Hanukkah 2024 began Wednesday evening, December 25, 2024 – coinciding in a rare convergence with Christmas Day – ushering in eight days of celebration, tradition, and light that will continue through Thursday, January 2, 2025, according to Israelhayom.com. Each evening, Jewish families worldwide will gather to kindle the Hanukkah lights, commemorating both the miraculous lasting of a single day’s cruse of oil for eight days and the triumphant victory of the Hasmoneans over their Greek oppressors.
Lighting times vary according to tradition, with Ashkenazi Jews kindling the lights at sunset while Sephardic Jews begin at nightfall, approximately 12 minutes after the sun has set.