Public menorah lightings in San Francisco’s Washington Square Park are back to normal, thanks to the donation of a new giant wooden menorah. The original six-foot brass menorah was stolen on Dec. 25, following the lighting on the first night of Hanukkah.
Massachusetts resident and menorah maker Yochanon “Mitch” Bogart heard about the theft and acted quickly, according to NBC Bay Area. He packed up one of his own creations, a collapsible “Menorah to Go” and overnighted it to Rabbi Peretz and Miryam Mochkin of Chabad of North Beach, who oversee the lightings in the park. The Mochkins received it on Dec. 28. Rabbi Mochkin told SF Gate he plans on keeping the replacement menorah for lightings in the future.
The new menorah will be part of a New Year’s Eve candle-lighting ceremony in the park, celebrating the last night of Hanukkah.
Police suspect metal recyclers stole the menorah.