But at 4:30 p.m. as the community menorah-lighting ceremony was about to begin, the rain stopped, the sky cleared and the square began to fill. When the actual lighting occurred, about 500 people stood shivering, holding Chanukah candles with tin-foil bases, lighting one candle from another.
They came from all over the Bay Area to welcome the first night of the eight-day festival.
“It’s my only way to celebrate,” said Jeff Wachs, who moved to San Francisco a few months ago. His parents lives in Scottsdale, Ariz. To the delight of the friends who were with him, Wachs said he had some potatoes at home and was thinking about hosting a latke party after the ceremony.
Julie Weiss drove up from Los Gatos, as she has done in past years. On her way to Union Square, she stopped for a cup of borscht at a nearby delicatessen. Afterward, she was driving home to celebrate with her family.
According to the chair of the festivities, Rabbi Yosef Langer of Chabad of San Francisco, 80 percent of San Francisco’s Jewish population is unaffiliated. The public menorah lighting is a way of reaching out to them. And what better place to do it than in the center of town — the marketplace.
Area Jews will “experience [the lighting] in a public, open way and light up inside and take that light to their families and then back to the streets,” Langer said. “Let the light shine.”
Started by the late rock-concert promoter, the Bill Graham celebration is more than just a candle-lighting ceremony. It’s dancing, singing, music, entertainment, shopping and eating.
And, of course there is a menorah. A big menorah. A three-story menorah that is being lit for the 24th year.
“This is the mama menorah,” said Langer. “This is the first menorah lit outside of Israel in a public lighting.”
Since that first lighting, other cities throughout world from Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles to Moscow and Hong Kong have followed suit.
“This is second best to being with my family,” said Peter Lelbes. The Milwaukee resident was in San Francisco attending a scientific conference. Milwaukee also has a community menorah lighting, he said, but it’s held in a mall. Too cold outside.
For Lelbes and fellow scientist Norman Gershfeld of Washington, D.C., the San Francisco lighting has become a biannual event. The conference meets here every other year, usually falling during Chanukah.
“There’s a large number of Jewish scientists at the conference,” said Gershfeld. “They really should do something [for Chanukah].”
On the stage, joining the celebration were a variety of San Francisco luminaries including Mayor Willie Brown, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Supervisor Mark Leno and Wavy Gravy. Bill Graham’s son David also spoke.
Brown proclaimed Sunday “Bill Graham Peace and Light Day” and presented a proclamation to Langer.
Partway through the ceremony, the lights on the Union Square Christmas tree flashed on, brightening up the scene.
And, holiday or not, speakers had their own political or commercial agenda to promote. It comes with the territory.
Langer touted one of the event sponsors, a phone company, as the best service, adding that a donation would be made to the event for everyone who signed up this week.
In the political realm, Boxer said she hopes that in keeping with the spirit of the season, members of the House of Representative would look into their hearts and forgive President Clinton and realize that impeachment proceedings were not in the best interests of the country.
Also speaking was alternative-rock singer Perry “Peretz” Farrell. “Israel needs to be preserved,” he said. “She can’t just give that land away.”
When the speeches were finished, Brown, Langer, Graham and Farrell piled into a cherry picker to be lifted to the top of the menorah. Working together, they outwitted the wind to light the shamash and first candle of Chanukah. Farrell then sang the blessing.
“I’ve never seen a menorah lighting before,” said Joe Belluomini of San Francisco. He was brought by his friend Eric Stone to experience a Jewish celebration. Belluomini, a Roman Catholic, remarked that Jewish events are different from Catholic ones, which he jokingly characterized as casino or bingo nights. “But I expect there will be some merry drinking afterwards.”
But Stone had other plans. Merry latke eating.