LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX18) — During the holiday season, they are the lights that often sit in the background, but they shine just as bright. Across the world, Jews celebrated the first night of Hanukkah by lighting the menorah.
Governor Andy Beshear attended a menorah lighting ceremony at Triangle Park in Lexington. The event was made possible thanks to a grant from the Jewish Federation of North America, focused on "shining a light" on rising antisemitism.
"The rise of anti-Semitism across the country and in Kentucky is concerning and it's wrong," Beshear said. "Hate is always wrong but hate based on one's religion is especially wrong."
The Anti-defamation league reported an a record 2,700 antisemitic incidents last year. This year, antisemitic comments made by Kanye West and Kyrie Irving have left Jews unsettled.
"Hate and bigotry in all of its forms has no home in Lexington," said Mindy Haas of Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass.
Beshear echoed those comments, adding that people should stand up against antisemitism whenever they see it.
Connecting it to the fight about antisemitism, Beshear said the message of Hannukah is about light over darkness.
Rabbi Shlomo Litvin, who attended the menorah lighting, said this year especially the message of Hannukah hits close to home.
"The beauty of the Hanukkah menorah is that tonight we are only lighting one candle, doesn't seem like a big difference, but one candle dispels darkness," Litvin said. "Darkness is not an entity, darkness is the absence of light."
