MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — The holiday season is upon Central Georgia, and people in Milledgeville are getting ready to shine a light in their hometown during their annual Hanukkah celebration.
People will come together on Sunday, the first night of Hanukkah, for prayer and to light a nine-foot-tall menorah in downtown Milledgeville.
Allison Bloodworth got the idea for the event when driving through town with her son in 2020.
“He was starting to learn more about the holidays and religions and traditions and stuff like that and he asked why there wasn’t a menorah, like Hanukkah decorations up. And I said, ‘well that’s a good question,’” Bloodworth said.
This question led her to raising almost $2,000 for a tall menorah the community could enjoy. The first lighting was held in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bloodworth felt at the time, the world needed a little light.
“There are other Jewish kids in the community, and they came up to me and said thank you which was really sweet. I didn’t want to be thanked, I didn’t need to be thanked. I just wanted these kids to grow up feeling included,” Bloodworth said.
She says everyone she spoke to when trying to create the event was very warm and eager to help.
“It felt so good to be able to share our traditions with the community and it felt so good to see the amount of support that we got,” she said.
“I just think that, that is so cool. And I think it teaches the next generation too like ‘look at all these other things that are out there. This is really neat. Let’s learn more about it.’ Everybody’s different and unique and that makes being together more fun,” she said.
Bloodworth says she loves the significance of the menorah providing light during our darkest times, especially during the first lighting.
“It was moving, it was very, very meaningful. It was exciting because I saw my son get excited and he saw how many people do support different religions and traditions and cultures and that is so important because I don’t want my kids to grow up feeling like outsiders or just feeling left out in general so that was really powerful,” Bloodworth said.
You can celebrate the first night of Hanukkah on Sunday in downtown Milledgeville on West Hancock Street in the plaza in front of The Local Yolkal Café at 6 p.m.
Rabbi Aaron Rubinstein from Congregation Sha’arey Israel and Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar from Temple Beth Israel in Macon will lead the group in prayer and song.
If you would like to learn more about the history of Hanukkah, check out a brief history here.