Menorah Lighting in Memory of the Mumbai Victims and Mike Woodin

CHANUKAH PRESS RELEASE

25 Dec, 2008

Chabad of Oxford celebrated the 1st night of Chanukah with the lighting of a 12 ft Menorah in the centre of Oxford city centre, on Broad St. The Menorah was lit by the Lord Mayor of Oxford, Cllr Susanna Pressel, and Rabbi Eli Brackman, director of Chabad of Oxford, in the presence of about 150 people, including students, faculty and community members.

The lighting of the Oxford Menorah was dedicated this year to the Mumbai terror victims, including Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, directors of the Mumbai Chabad House.

It was most poignant that the day the hostages were found killed at the Mumbai Chabad House on 28 Nov, 2008, the Menorah was set up in Oxford, indeed a month early, before the holiday of Chanukah.

The city council hosted on that day a major “Winter Lights” celebration coinciding with the dedication of Bonn Square. They kindly requested Chabad of Oxford to erect the Menorah as part of this celebration, attended by thousands of people throughout the city centre, including Broad St.

It was while darkness was at its most intensity with the killing of the hostages in Mumbai that the Menorah for the Festival of Lights was erected in Oxford in preparation for the holiday of Chanukah. It was a message of consolation that ultimately the power of light and good will dispel the forces of darkness and evil.

The lighting was also dedicated to the late principal speaker for the Green Party of England and Wales, and Leader of the Green Party Group on Oxford City Council, Cllr Dr. Mike Woodin. Dr. Woodin was author of the book Green Alternatives to Globalisation: A Manifesto.

Mike, who tragically died of cancer at the age of 38 in 2004, was a member of the Oxford Jewish community, a Fellow at Balliol College and the main supporter in the city council at the time for the proposal to erect the Menorah in the Oxford city centre. He was a proud Jew and instrumental in getting it the necessary permission.

Broad St, where the Menorah is currently situated every year, is in the heart of the city of Oxford, down the road from the famed Bodleian library, which has one of the most important Hebraica manuscript collections in the world. The Menorah is located outside one of the oldest colleges in Oxford, Balliol College, where Mike was Fellow.

The ceremony was also addressed by Leader of the Green Group, Cllr Craig Simmons, who paid a tribute to Mike Woodin, saying that he was a visionary and predicted the current economic crises in his book against globalisation, and deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr Elise Benjamin.

The event concluded with professional entertainment by a fire juggler and unicyclist.