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Jewry of World to Celebrate the Feast of Lights Next Week

November 26, 1934
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Commemorating one of the earliest struggles of the Jews for religious freedom, Chanukah, the Festival of Dedication, will be widely observed by Jews the world over. The Jewish Welfare Board announced that the eight-day holiday, beginning Saturday, December 1, and concluding Sunday, December 9, will be celebrated by impressive programs. The Board also declared that it has prepared a new bulletin on Chanukah observance which will be given to Jewish centers, synagogues. Hebrew schools and other Jewish institutions.

Two other organizations—the American Friends of the Hebrew University and Hadassah — announce that the Chanukah celebration will be used to further the worthy efforts they are promoting. Thousands of children throughout the country will asked to contribute to the Chanukah fund campaign in behalf of the school luncheon project in Palestine sponsored by Hadassah.

TO OBSERVE UNIVERSITY FOUNDING

Mrs. Herman Shulman, national secretary of Hadassah and chairman of the school luncheons committee, declared it is hoped that the luncheon system will be extended to all Palestine-Jewish schools and thus serve 47,000 children.

The American Friends of the Hebrew University are linking this year’s Chanukah celebration with the tenth anniversary of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. A committee under the leadership of Rabbi William F. Rosenblum of Temple Israel, New York, is sponsoring the Chanukah tie-up with the Hebrew University, which will culminate in a series of dinners and meetings in principal cities of the country on April 1, 1935, the tenth anniversary of the dedication of the Hebrew University by the late Earl Balfour.

Leading rabbis throughout the country have assured the committee they will devote sermons during Chanukah week to a description of what the University has accomplished in its first decade, and to point out its significance as the chief cultural achievement of the Jewish people during the present time.

“Chanukah this year,” said Rabbi Rosenblum, “will be celebrated in a modern sense in addition to its ancient meaning, for we have a new cause for rejoicing. For generations we have celebrated the victory of the Maccabeans over the enemies of Israel, and the re-dedication of our Temple of Learning, the Hebrew University, and rejoice in a conquest over the forces of darkness which may prove to be even greater than the victory of the Maccabeans.”

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