Vance Hanukkah parties bring light for Jewish Airmen

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Jonathan Goldstein
  • 71st Operational Support Squadron
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  On Dec. 21 and 22 Jewish Airmen at Vance came together to celebrate the first two nights of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, as a community.

1st Lt. Mike Lebovitz, a T-1 student pilot, hosted a Hanukkah dinner on the first night of the eight-day festival with delicious food, dreidels (Hanukkah-themed spinning tops), fresh latkes (potato pancakes), and homemade jelly doughnuts.

"Where else but in Enid would the gathering of Jews be so appreciated by the presence of one another's company?" said Lieutenant Lebovitz.

The party invitation included spouses and families. Jewish couples and Airmen were able to meet and get to know one another in a fun, friendly and warm atmosphere.

Dating back to 140-139 BC, when the Assyrian Greeks were defeated by the Jewish Maccabees, Hanukkah commemorates both a military victory and a spiritual triumph.

After the Maccabees retook Jerusalem from the Greeks, the Jewish leaders directed that Temple be cleansed, a new altar be built in place of the polluted one and new holy vessels be made.

To start this cleansing, the Maccabees looked through the Temple ruins to find oil with which they could re-light the Menorah, a candelabra that had remained lit from 1312 BC until 151 BC, when Greek troops destroyed many of the Temple's vessels.

The Maccabees found one small vial of pure oil among the debris -- enough to burn for only one day-- and re-lit the Menorah. Amazingly, it remained lit for eight days and nights, resulting in the re-dedication of the Temple and a declaration of the Festival of Lights.

Here, at Vance Air Force Base, over a dozen Jewish Airmen continued the millennia-long tradition of lighting their own Menorahs to commemorate this festival.