Eight months after an initial request to put a menorah on public property was denied by a village attorney and a number of local officials, Chabad of Miami Shores in Florida welcomed more than 300 people, including politicians from the village and beyond, to a public menorah-lighting at City Hall on the third night of the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah.
“After years of trying to have Miami Shores join almost every other city in South Florida in having a menorah placed at City Hall, we finally have that experience this Hanukkah,” said Rabbi Asher Sossonko, director of Chabad of Miami Shores. “It is abundantly clear that Miami Shores is a welcoming community for all types of people, including us Jews. It was special to see the light of the menorah finally breaking through the darkness.”
In April, then-Miami Shores Mayor Crystal Wagar had raised the idea of adding a menorah to the village’s winter holiday display, but the idea was nixed by others on the board at the time.
Days later, a new administration was voted in—the election was scheduled before the discussion of holiday symbols—with Sandra Harris becoming the new mayor. The idea of having a menorah as part of the village’s display was later reintroduced and approved.
