Museum Highlights Hanukkah

 Museum Highlights Hanukkah

BOBBY ARDOIN

Editor/Consulting Writer

The annual religious traditions associated with the celebration of Hanukkah and the imprint that the Jewish community has made in the development of Opelousas were introduced Thursday night during a presentation at the Opelousas Museum.

A candle-lighting ceremony on a nine-branch menorah marked the final day of the 2024 Hanukkah, along with the sampling of customary seasonal Hanukkah delicacies such as potato pancakes and jelly-filled donuts.

Adolescents were introduced to a Hanukkah-inspired game of dreidel, following a local historical presentation by Leslie Schiff, an attorney who has been practicing law in Opelousas for 65 years.

Schiff recalled that he never experienced any religious prejudices while growing up in Opelousas and later during his business relationships, 

“I never experienced any evidence of even one day of (anti-Semitism),” Schiff told the crowd that participated in the event.

The former Jewish synagogue on South Main Street in Opelousas no longer hosts religious services, noted Schiff, who indicated that the building has been sold.

Although Opelousas has included a number of Jewish families since the 19th century, Schiff said that despite having a synagogue in place, that a rabbi was never employed to conduct regular religious services.

“Vernon Schiff, O.B. Stander, I and others would often take turns presenting the readings of scriptures,” Schiff said.

Many of the Jewish families who once lived in Opelousas are buried in the Jewish cemetery on the east side of the city.

During an interview that followed his presentation, Schiff mentioned that members of the oldest Jewish families are interred on the east side of the cemetery located adjacent to the cerebral palsy clinic.

Schiff added that many of the Jewish families who originally populated the Opelousas area were cotton merchants, who emigrated from Memphis and New Orleans. These entrepreneurs, said Schiff, were eager to begin commercial relationships with other merchants living in the town of Washington.

Hanukkah Customs Featured

Victor Smith introduced the lighting of the eight candles situated on a menorah. 

Each candle that he lit with a Shamash,Smith explained, represents one of the eight-nights celebrated during Hanukkah.

Jewish religious history, Smith and Schiff each noted, teaches that a small amount of oil lighted to commemorate the reclamation and rededication of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem during the second century B.C., burned for eight days, which was longer than anticipated.

The oil which lasted for an unanticipated eight days, has served as inspiration for the Hanukkah celebrations which feature scripture readings, games, and treats.

Aglaia Venters sang acapella in Hebrew, the Hanukkah anthem as Smith concluded the menorah ceremony.   

Schiff credited his children for helping maintain the Hanukkah traditions now celebrated with the family.