Menorah workshop gets guests ready for Hanukkah

The Chabad Center for Jewish Life in Newport Beach and The Home Depot teamed up to present a pre-Hanukkah menorah workshop Sunday afternoon at the Home Depot store on Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa.

The free public event gave guests a chance to craft their own menorah from wood and other supplies provided.

Hanukkah is the Jewish eight-day wintertime Festival of Lights, featuring a nightly menorah lighting, special prayers and foods such as doughnuts and latkes.

It commemorates the victory in the second century B.C. by a small group of Jews, led by Judah the Maccabee, that drove the Seleucid army from the Holy Land and reclaimed and rededicated the temple in Jerusalem.

When the Jews sought to light the temple’s menorah, or candelabrum, they found only a one-day supply of sacred oil. However, it lasted for eight days. The typical Hanukkah menorah has eight branches with an additional branch with which the others are lit.

This year the Hanukkah celebration begins Saturday night and continues through Jan. 1.