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A public menorah is a large menorah displayed publicly during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. It is done to celebrate the holiday and publicize the miracle of Hanukkah, and is typically accompanied by a public event during one of the nights of Hanukkah attended by invited dignitaries who are honored with lighting the menorah.
Public menorah lighting were initiated by Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson in 1974. The most prominent public menorah celebration takes place in Washington, D.C., and is known as the National Menorah. In 2013 Chabad planned 15,000 public menorah lighting events across the globe.
In 2013, Chabad planned 15,000 public menorah lighting events across the globe.Chabad.org "Chabad-Lubavitch's Global Chanukah Campaign" Some believe the Hanukkah-awareness campaign has been a prime factor in the festival becoming so widely celebrated.Joshua Eli Plaut, A Kosher Christmas: 'Tis the Season to be Jewish. Rutgers University Press, 2012. Page 167.Joseph Telushkin, . HarperCollins, 2014. Page 269.Menachem Posner, 40 Years Later: How the Chanukah Menorah Made Its Way to the Public Sphere. December 1, 2014. But the initiative has also faced opposition from within the Jewish community, both from Conservative and Reform Jewish organizations, as well as from the Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel.
The world's largest menorah stands at and is lit at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street in Manhattan near Central Park. A structure, it is the work of Israelis artist Yaacov Agam. Because of the menorah's height, Con Edison assists the lighting by using a crane to lift each person to the top.
Since 2007, Chabad has organized a public menorah celebration at Trafalgar Square. Each year the event is sponsored by Chabad, the Jewish Leadership Council, the London Jewish Forum and the mayor of London.
On 18 December 2022, 10 months into the full-scale Russian invasion, and days after the most recent targeting of Ukraine's gas infrastructure, the City of Kyiv lit what is claimed to be Europe's tallest menorah, (at 12-meters tall) in Maidan Nezalezhnosti square.
In December 2024 in Kyiv, chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov ceremonially lit the first candle on a hanukkiah made from fragments of Russian drones and rockets fired at Ukraine.
A public menorah is also displayed annually in Punta del Este.
In 1989, the city of Burlington, Vermont denied the local Chabad chapter, headed by Rabbi Yitzchok Raskin permission to erect a menorah in the city's main park during Hanukkah.Mark A. Kaplan v. City of Burlington and Robert Whalen (12/12/89)United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 89-7042; 891 F.2d 1024 Raskin appealed the decision on two occasions after an initial hearing 1987 found the display to be unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The ACLU assisted the City of Burlington in a final appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1991, and the menorah ban was upheld.Chabad-Lubavitch of Vermont v. City of Burlington, 936 F.2d 109 (C.A.2 (Vt.), 1991) New Twist to Old Fight: Menorah in Vermont Park, Sally Johnson, New York Times, December 20, 1987 There have been similar cases involving Chabad public menorahs with the courts ruling against Chabad, including Chicago (1990)Lubavitch Chabad House, Inc. v. City of Chicago, 917 F.2d 341 (C.A.7 (Ill.), 1990) Iowa (1986),Lubavitch of Iowa, Inc. v. Walters, 808 F.2d 656 (C.A.8 (Iowa), 1986), Cincinnati (1991),Congregation Lubavitch v. City of Cincinnati, 923 F.2d 458 (C.A.6 (Ohio), 1991) and Georgia (1991).Chabad-Lubavitch of Georgia v. Miller, 5 F.3d 1383 (C.A.11 (Ga.), 1993) In addition, in 1991, in White Plains, New York, the City council unanimously rejected the display of a Chabad menorah in a public space in the town with the support of many Jews, affirming a local tradition of keeping parks free of religious and political displays. White Plains Council Blocks Electric Menorah for Park, Lisa W. Foderaro, New York Times December 3, 1991
On the other hand, in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Rabbi Sholom B. Kalmanson of Chabad of Southern Ohio to light an menorah in Cincinnati's Fountain Square. Justice John Paul Stevens upheld a lower court ruling that the city could not ban the menorah and other religious displays from the square. Supreme Court rules on public chanukiot, Joe Berkofsky, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 6, 2002
Due to the menorah being a Jewish symbol, menorahs in public have been subject to anti-Semitic violence. For instance, in 2009 in Moldova, a group of fundamentalist Orthodox Christians took down a public menorah and replaced it with a cross. The same year, in Vienna, Austria, a Chabad rabbi was attacked by a Muslim man while leading the candle lighting ceremony.
Controversy has also arisen at the Western Wall in Israel. For Hanukkah every year a giant menorah is erected in the men's section of the Western Wall and each night of the eight nights of the festival, male rabbis and male politicians are honored, while women are kept at a distance, where they are barely able to see the ceremony."'Light One Candle with Women of the Wall' (Dec 11) Women of the Wall" Women of the Wall sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requesting a large menorah also be erected in the women's section, but Netanyahu simply forwarded the letter to Western Wall rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, who accused WoW of ulterior motives of trying to change the customs at the Wall. Responding to Rabinowitz' accusation, Anat Hoffman noted: "In his letter, Rabbi Rabinowitz speaks of bringing together and uniting the nation, and yet his actions exclude and discriminate against women as if women are not part of the same nation. Since he was chosen for this public position, Rabinowitz has never invited Women of the Wall or any other women to participate in the ceremonies or to be honored with the lighting of a candle at the Kotel on Hanukkah, despite the fact that women are obligated equally to men in this religious act." In December 2014 the personal menorahs the women brought to the Kotel were confiscated, but they were returned when police were called."Maltz, Judy 'Rabbi bans Women of the Wall's Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony' (Dec 14, 2014) Haaretz"http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/.premium-1.631730"Judy Maltz 'Sarah Silverman joins Women activists at Western Wall Hanukkah ceremony: Kotel security confiscates prayer group's menorahs, returned only after complaint lodged with police.' (18 Dec 2014) Haaretz"http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.632612
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