While practicing social distancing, a small group of Jewish faith worshippers gather at Congregation B’nai Chaim synagogue in Murrieta to conduct a menorah lighting for viewers watching from home, during the start of Hanukkah, Thursday, Dec. 10. Valley News/Shane Gibson photo
Most of Congregation B’nai Chaim in Murrieta celebrated the first night of Hanukkah 2020 in their homes for the first time via Zoom Thursday, Dec. 9, but not without celebration songs and prayers.Hanukkah is the Jewish “Festival of Lights” celebration that commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Greek Seleucid Empire in the second century BCE. In that time Jewish warriors, called the Maccabees, took back occupied Jerusalem and regained the once-desecrated temple.Hosting the virtual Hannukah celebration at Congregation B’nai Chaim, 29500 Via Princesa, in Murrieta was Jamie Nadel who led more than a dozen families and the congregation’s band in lighting the first of eight candles on the large menorah. O
