Old City adorned with some creative menorahs over Hanukkah
Old City adorned with some creative menorahs over HanukkahYosef Steinberg

A grassroots Old City initiative has turned the Old City of Jerusalem – where the miracle of the Hanukkah lights took place over 2,150 years ago – into the city of Menorahs this week.

Families throughout the Jewish Quarter built their "dream" Menorahs – Hanukkah candelabra – and have placed them outside their homes, on the same streets and alleys walked by the original Hasmoneans on their way to purifying the Holy Temple over two millennia ago.

In addition, professional artists and craftsmen who live in the Quarter fashioned Menorahs of all types, which are placed in "strategic" locations throughout the neighborhood.

The goal, according to organizer and Old City resident Yosef Steinberg, is "to attract and interest tourists in down-to-earth, traditional Jewish life in the Old City of Jerusalem." He said that groups from all over the world come to visit, and "we, the residents – and not just their tour guides – have something to share with them as well."

The Menorahs competed in a friendly, community-wide contest on Hanukkah, and the most interesting and tourist-attracting ones received prizes.

The Menorah project, which began last year, features an improved version this year - and next year promises to be even more advanced. One future goal, Steinberg says, is for each family to provide an explanation and/or words of Hanukkah inspiration alongside their Menorah.

And another goal, he adds with an optimistic and forward-looking smile, is "to interest the tourists in our Menorahs as they make their way down our streets to the newly-built Beit HaMikdash [Holy Temple]."

For those who prefer not to read this article, the accompanying photos, provided by Yosef Steinberg, tell the story of the Menorah project most vividly.