A LIGHT UNTO THE MASSES

Since receiving a letter from the Rebbe, R’ Mordechai Kanelsky puts up public menorahs on bridges, at airports, and other locations that are seen by the masses, bringing the light of Chanuka to fifteen million people!

Erev Chanuka, Friday afternoon. At the entrance to the Goethals Bridge in New Jersey, near the toll booths, stand two people whose outer appearances are completely different. One is dressed as a Lubavitcher and the other is dressed in fashionable sporty clothes. Thousands of cars pass on their left, pay the toll and cross the bridge, one of the main bridges in New Jersey.

Both of them stand next to a public menorah that was placed at the entrance to the bridge, a location where nobody can miss it and the message it broadcasts. The Chassid is a shliach and director of Bris Avrohom, R’ Mordechai Kanelsky. He turns to his mekurav and gives him the honor of lighting the menorah.

The mekurav, one of the steady supporters of the organization, who also contributed to the costs of setting up the menorah, went over to light it. As he lit it, he began to cry.

“Why are you crying?” asked R’ Kanelsky. 

The mekurav said, “As a Russian Jew, I never dreamed that the day would come when I would have the merit to light a public menorah, near one of the busiest bridges in the state.” 

R’ Kanelsky decided to take advantage of the intensity of the moment. He remembered that all the times he had tried to convince the man to start putting on t’fillin regularly had been unsuccessful. Even after he bought t’fillin, he said he would put them on once in a while, but did not commit to putting them on every weekday since he had to be at work very early. Now was the time to push him.

He exclaimed, “I want you to look at the lights of the menorah and promise me that from now on, you will put on t’fillin every day!”

The mekurav, who was emotionally overwrought, agreed on one condition, that R’ Kanelsky get him another pair of t’fillin so he would have t’fillin at home and at the office. Since then, he puts t’fillin on daily and it’s all thanks to lighting the menorah at the Goethals Bridge, one of fifty menorahs placed in prominent locations throughout New Jersey.

***

It all began in 5747 with a letter that the Rebbe sent for the sixth annual dinner of Bris Avrohom. The Rebbe compared the work of the organization to lighting a menorah, both of which arouse the Jewish neshama to light up the environment with the “candle of a mitzva and the light of Torah.”

Upon receiving this letter, R’ Kanelsky decided that in Kislev the organization would focus on arranging Chanuka parties for Russian immigrants and on placing public menorahs in prominent places. The Chanuka outreach grew from year to year with the organization’s activists making connections with additional mayors who were happy to join the circle of light until twenty-five large menorahs were placed in the centers of many cities in New Jersey a decade ago.

The lighting of the menorahs is part of a festive event. Russian Jews who live in these areas enjoy attending the menorah lightings every year. In those years, when a public menorah was not yet lit in Russia, old people would have their picture taken near a menorah with the city hall building in the background, and then would send the pictures to their relatives in Russia so they should know that in America menorahs were lit publicly and without fear. At one of these events, one of the women asked permission to speak. With tears flowing from her eyes, she said that this menorah lit up her neshama as well as the neshamos of her parents who were murdered by the Nazis at Babi Yar.

TO BRING THE LIGHT OUTSIDE THE CITY

During those years, whoever passed through these major cities during Chanuka couldn’t avoid seeing the display of Jewish light and the message of Chanuka, but the intercity highways which are traversed by millions of people every night still did not have the light of Chanuka.

That was the case until Tishrei of ten years ago. One of the senators of New Jersey, Robert Gordon, moved to a new office and he asked his friend, Mordechai Kanelsky, to come and put up mezuzos. R’ Kanelsky set out with his father-in-law, R’ Berel Zaltsman. At the last moment, his mother-in-law, who was very involved in Mivtza Mezuza, decided to join them.

Two days later, on Erev Yom Kippur, his mother-in-law was killed in a car accident. When Senator Gordon heard about her passing, he came to console Rebbetzin Kanelsky and he asked, “What can I do in her memory?”

At that moment, R’ Kanelsky thought of the dark highways of the state of New Jersey and said to the senator, “If you really want to do something big, use your connections to get a permit to light a public menorah on the Goethals Bridge! It will be an eternal light for my mother-in-law.”

The senator agreed but it took quite some time until he finally reached the right person who held a top position at the Port Authority. (The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey builds, operates and maintains infrastructure critical to the New York/New Jersey region’s trade and transportation network. These facilities include America’s busiest airport system (at Kennedy and Newark), marine terminals and ports, the PATH rail transit system, six tunnels and bridges.)

At their first meeting, the official said he could not get permits to set up a menorah on the bridge itself but he would be able to obtain a permit to light a public menorah at the Port Authority headquarters. An entire year went by until that official actually managed to obtain the necessary permits and the first menorah was set up at the Goethals Bridge, viewed by the tens of thousands of people who pass by daily.

A FIVE MINUTE FATEFUL MEETING

R’ Kanelsky was not satisfied with one menorah. At his next meeting with the official, he explained the Talmudic concept of “one who has one hundred wants two hundred,” and suggested that he be the guest of honor at his annual dinner. The official refused the honor but offered to give the honor to the Deputy Executive Director of Port Authority, Bill Baroni.

It turned out that the director of the Port Authority was so busy that half a year went by until R’ Kanelsky managed to arrange a meeting with Baroni in his Manhattan office. Before the meeting, the official told R’ Kanelsky that his meeting was limited to only five minutes.

At the very start of the meeting, Baroni said: I know that you want to put up public menorahs on all the main bridges and I want you to explain to me, why is this important?

R’ Kanelsky decided to try to reach Mr. Baroni’s sense of human compassion and he said emotionally, “I arrived from Russia thirty years ago where my father had to change jobs eighteen times just so that he could avoid desecrating the Sabbath. I myself had to hide for a year and a half in a cellar so that I would not have to go to public school and desecrate the Sabbath. We endangered our lives every day and ultimately we managed to observe nearly all the mitzvos.

“There was one mitzva we could not do even with self-sacrifice and that was lighting a public menorah to publicize the miracle. It was obvious that if we were to give public expression to our mitzva observance we would be thrown into jail. All my life I thought, when will I be able to do this mitzva fully? There are 30,000 Russian Jews in New Jersey, all of whom share the same dream.

“You, Mr. Baroni, are in charge of all the bridges and highways and you can enable tens of thousands of people to realize their dream. If you give the permit, they will all feel the difference between Soviet Russia and the United States of America. Over there, lighting a public menorah would have landed them in prison, while here we light a public menorah with government approval!”

Baroni was very moved by this plea and immediately approved the placing of menorahs at the four biggest bridges in the area: the George Washington Bridge, Goethals Bridge, Bayonne Bridge, and the Outerbridge Crossing.

***

At that time, Baroni was invited to be the guest of honor at the Bris Avrohom dinner which took place along with marriage ceremonies for Russian couples. Baroni accepted and was very moved by the sight of the gala weddings. In his speech at the dinner, he said in the year in which they were celebrating eighty years of the George Washington Bridge, one of the largest bridges in the world, the menorah would be lit for eight days and light up the way for eleven million people who crossed the bridge during Chanuka.

With the help of Baroni, the necessary permits were arranged. The following Chanuka, three public menorahs were set up at three entrances to the George Washington Bridge, the upper level, the lower level, and the Palisade Parkway ramp through which thousands of Jews from Monsey/Rockland pass through.

On the appointed day, R’ Kanelsky arrived with some mekuravim to light a public menorah for the first time in the history of the bridge. Employees of Port Authority set up the menorah and stopped traffic on the nearby lane for fifteen minutes. Since there were ten Jews, R’ Kanelsky decided to daven Mincha on the closed off lane of the bridge. Many Jews who passed by enjoyed the unusual sight and honked their approval.

Four years have passed since the menorah was lit for the first time on the George Washington Bridge and every year, a few days before Chanuka, Port Authority employees set up the menorahs. After Chanuka, Port Authorities employees take the menorahs down and store them in Port Authority storage. The menorahs end up being seen a few days before Chanuka and a few days after Chanuka too, thus publicizing the message of Chanuka to hundreds of thousands more people who pass by.

A LIGHT (ALSO) FOR GENTILES

As you can guess, R’ Kanelsky is not the type of person to remain content with past achievements. He always strives to advance, to give the Rebbe more nachas. 

After successfully bringing the light of Chanuka to all the main bridges in the area, he decided to move forward. Since Port Authority is in charge of all the airports in the area, he used his connections with the official who opened all the doors for him and was able to get a permit to put up a huge menorah, 12 feet high, at the airport in Newark. That year, a large menorah was also lit at the entrance to the largest train station in New Jersey, the PATH station at Journal Square which connects New York and New Jersey and is also under the control of Port Authority.

One mitzva draws another in its wake. In the merit of lighting a public menorah at the airport in Newark, near the El-Al passenger terminal, a special relationship was struck between R’ Kanelsky and the administration of El-Al and they asked him to open a Chabad stand at the site. R’ Kanelsky was happy to do so and his sons man the stand which is active during flights to Eretz Yisroel.

Two years ago, when the donor of the menorah at Newark came to light the first light, he brought his children, his parents and his in-laws along to show them what Jewish pride is all about. After lighting the menorah, he said that although he puts on t’fillin every day, previously, when businessmen would walk into his office while he put on his t’fillin, he would close the door because he was embarrassed. However, since he lit the public menorah in Newark, he realized there is nothing to be ashamed about keeping mitzvos. When Jewish businessmen come in, he offers them t’fillin before they talk business!

There were some businessmen who did not believe that he himself put t’fillin on every day and he told them: Not only do I put on t’fillin but I know how to put them on others!

Last year, when fifty public menorahs were placed by Bris Avrohom at all central points in New Jersey, there wasn’t a single Jew who wasn’t exposed to the light of Chanuka. This great light also impacted the nations of the world – a light onto the nations – and the members of New Jersey’s Senate and Assembly decided to give Bris Avrohom a special award for the light they bring with the fifty public menorahs.