AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage took part in a ceremony in observance of Hanukkah at the State House on Tuesday.’
Rabbi Moshe Wilansky of Portland lit the third candle on the menorah at the State House as LePage looked on.
The event marked the third day of Hanukkah which celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C.
Rabbi Wilansky travels throughout the state to participate in candle lightnings during the eight days of Hanukkah.
Thanks for coming up to the Bangor Mall today, too!
If this footage & reportage were, in fact, from today (Tuesday), then FIVE candles would’ve been required, given that tonight is the fourth night of Chanukah: four candles for the first four nights (Sat., Sun., Mon., Tues.) plus one candle to serve as the shamesh. You sure this video wasn’t taped Monday PM?
And by the way, BDN Staff reporters: what are “candle lightnings”?
Since Jewish holidays start at night and candles are kindled then, lighting candles during the day is unusual. Tonight was the 4th night, requiring, as you note, five candles: four for the fourth night plus the shamesh. I guess, since the lit the menorah during the day (again, not the way it’s usually done), they did the number of candles for the 3rd day of the holiday.
Well, that explains it. Thanks.
Thanks, Amy!!!
Plus, I think he’s using the wrong candle . . .
Wait..I thought LePage wasn’t going to meet with them until they stopped their God from tracking him.
Merry Christmas
Is there an Islamic equivalent for this holiday ?
You may be thinking of Ramadan, which I think has already passed this year. Ramadan is not the equivalent of Chanukkah, but a somewhat similar annual observance.
It occurs about 6 weeks earlier each year than the previous year. When I was in a Muslim country 10 years ago, Ramazan was actually right around Christmas, so it was pretty nice to have everyone celebrating something. In 2013, Ramazan will begin in early July. On a side note, it was a lot easier for my friends to fast from sunrise to sunset in December than it is in June!
Wonder who’s job it was to ‘splain to the fat man what a menorah is. I mean this dolt still believes that the earth is flat and it was “created” 6,000 years ago in 6 days. Not exactly the sharpest tool in the tool kit. Oh, and happy winter solstice to all.
That’s a little mean spirited.
Congratulations, hope it goes well. I hope as well that we can have a Christmas showing there too.
I wonder why we celebrate Hanukkah with no embarrassment but cannot bring ourselves to say “Merry Christmas” and call the Christmas tree a Christmas tree.
I’m surprised that this isn’t called a “Holiday Candelabrum”.
As for your second point, you can still use the word Christmas, but I do understand that many are concerned about backlash using it, as if the person who hears or sees the word “Christmas” might be offended. I think, though, that most of that is really in our mind-even though even *I* feel that hesitation, I have never actually experienced any issues with it.
Why do you let Fox News rile you up like this?
Thank you. I figured it was either Fox News, George Bush or angry old white men.
Oh please, Fox News is the only source of this phony “War on Christmas”. Don’t even lie because there is no other place pushing the lie like Fox is.
Like I said, for you it is always one of the three. Why don’t you try to expand your knowledge instead of saying what you hear on MSNBC or Steven King liberal radio. Think for yourself.
Why don’t you address what I said directly instead of making excuses and changing the subject? Don’t have a real answer?
And quit projecting your poor behavior onto me. You’re the one who needs to learn to think for yourself.
Including an ornamental evergreen at the time of the Winter Solstice is an old Pagen tradition and has nothing to do with Christianity.
It does now.
Agreed. The Constitution of the United States gives us freedom of religion…not freedom from religion.
His little speech as aired on tv was about as insincere as they come. It was a short remark that he apparently had to read from a script and barely looked up from.
He sounded as though he was pledging allegiance to Israel on the TV story I saw. He must think he has a future with the GOP and is showing his support for AIPAC.
Did he make sure to point out that this was a special interest event?
To be fair….it is not a menorah….it is a holiday candle stick. Should fall under the same rules as the christmas…oops…holiday tree.
I already said that! :P
Except the Jewish people didn’t appropriate another culture’s tradition like we Christians did with the “Christmas” tree.
That’s not why people are saying “Holiday” in lieu of “Christmas,” though.
This is about the extents to which we take political correctness. We should not have to water down tradition (no matter how old) so we do not offend someone. We should not feel guilty saying Merry Christmas or Happy Hannukuh to anyone. It is our institutions of higher learning that have started this horse crap. Wouldn’t want to offend anyone who is – old, young, black, white, green, handicap,red, jewish, christian, athiest, gay, straight, male, female, french, german, african, rich, poor, canadian or dyslexic. I have to wonder how much of this is related to Affimative Action. So much pressure is put on us to be fair. We don’t keep score, we are just here playing to have fun. Wouldn’t want little Johnny or Jenny to have thier feelings hurt. The lack of competitiveness is very evident in todays classrooms.
It’s clear by your little tangents that you’re living in a fantasy world. What is this lack of competitiveness thing? What I’m noticing is the oversensitivity and whining of people like YOU. When someone wishes you a happy holidays, maybe it’s because they’re not sure of your religion or which holiday you celebrate? Maybe it’s because they’re wishing you both a merry Christmas and happy New Year all at once? I’m noticing political correctness from people like you trying to dictate what others say and believe. You’re projecting your poor behavior on to others — that’s very obvious.
I don’t know, I’ve seen a lot of forced and enforced sensitivity on college campuses… One example that always comes to mind is not using the term “freshman” because it could be offensive to females, so the term “first year” is used. And it goes from there so that the traditional terms used to signify the level of study are now being replaced by a numerical term to designate the actual year in school. But the worst offense, of course, is saying “freshman.”
But is that real or imagined? There seems to be an implication that there is suddenly some sort of embargo on these words like Christmas and freshman and that’s obviously not the case.
Trying to be inclusive isn’t the same thing as forced sensitivity. Deeming “happy holidays” an attack on religion is hyperbolic and yet that’s what many believe. They’re the same people who talk about over sensitivity — but in my eyes, exploding these tiny things into massive issues is more a marker of over sensitivity than calling freshman year first year.
Then the wild jumping to conclusions as to why a different word choice was opted for? The tangents about lack of competitiveness and affirmative action? Looks to me that these suspicions about “political correctness” are more examples of projecting than anything. No need to be suspicious about “happy holidays” unless you maybe have problems with having your holiday associated with other holidays, right? Having yourself associated with minorities, right?
I see what you are saying and yes, there is projection involved with some people in some cases. But I can see the issue people have with a “holiday tree” as opposed to a “holiday party.” The tree has had a specific meaning for generations and it seems that some people want to replace that. Hmmm…this sounds like a familiar argument, in fact. I don’t know all the reasons for every instance. But I do know that there are guidelines for correct language usage at some universities.
Honestly, it can all-ALL of it, be traced back to the Beatles appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show. THAT’S when it all started going to hell in a handbasket!!! :oP
And the Democratic tracker was on hand to catch the gov not being offensive. Good work.
WOW!!! The ignorance of the BDN, SHOCKING… Any way I’ll say it again, short and to the point… December, for my family anyway, celebrates the birth of Christ… But alas in this country we are not allowed to show our faith, God forbid that it offend someone, so they SEPARATED CHURCH FROM STATE, and now we are not allowed crosses, nativities, prayer, ect. ect. ect. . unless of course you happen to be of the Jewish faith then you can pray all day long and plant your symbols, WHEREVER… I don’t get it, because that is offensive to me. It is sad that the powers that be will impose on us Christians their own ideals and rituals and force us to ignore our own truths… MERRY CHRISTMAS… This months celebration is for the bringer of life… not for the eight days of rest after a massacre… Keep in mind Christianity has very little in common with Judaism these days. The Jewish faith denies the deity of the Christ.
I think that perhaps this is a bit melodramatic. And perhaps a bit exaggerated. And pretty mean.