Last Friday evening, Rob Gelphman and his family lit their chanukiah as usual — but this time it was under the lights of a giant Christmas tree.
The lighting of the giant chanukiah took place at “Christmas in the Park,” an annual San Jose holiday pageant, which has been held in Cesar Chavez Park for more than 20 years. This year, for the first time, the lighting was part of the event, which draws thousands.
After lighting the Christmas tree, San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales accepted an invitation from Gelphman, who owns a marketing agency serving technological firms, to come and visit the Chanukah display.
“It’s another example of San Jose really wanting to make sure that this is a community that celebrates all the heritages of the people who live here,” said David Vossbrink, a spokesman for the mayor.
At “Christmas in the Park,” dozens of organizations and individuals contribute large decorations like elves or Santas. Gelphman’s contribution was the first display with a Jewish theme.
“Someone had to go first,” said Gelphman. “We wanted to make this contribution, representative of the entire community.” Gelphman and his family brought the project to fruition on their own.
After seeing “Christmas in the Park” for years, Gelphman thought he could make a contribution that would both make the celebration more inclusive as well as bring the San Jose Jewish community together.
“The Jewish community in San Jose is not very united,” said Gelphman. “There’s certainly a lot of Jews, but there’s no central area. This is just a way to do something different.”
He also wanted to include a public celebration of Judaism in a citywide event. “By bringing the menorah into ‘Christmas in the Park,’ we want to be part of the whole fabric of the community. We don’t think there should be separate walls.”
Another purpose of bringing a chanukiah to the holiday event was to celebrate San Jose’s tolerant attitude, Gelphman said. “Here it works — especially in San Jose. Other large cities tend to have their neighborhoods, but we really don’t have that here. You see all kinds of people, but you don’t think about it; it just is.”
Gelphman has lived in San Jose for almost 40 years, and he wants his contribution to the celebration to reflect some of the changes he’s seen in his city over the years.
“When I moved here in 1964, agriculture was the main industry,” said Gelphman. “I’ve seen it grow into ground zero for high-tech. And every nationality, every ethnicity, every culture, every religion comes here, to work in tech. I just wanted to say we’re all here; we live in a very diverse community, but we can live in harmony. So we should celebrate that diversity.”
After he came up with the idea, Gelphman’s first move was to approach the board of directors in charge of the event. The members were immediately receptive to the idea. “They bent over backward for me — unbelievably accommodating,” he said.
The next step was to find a contractor who could build a chanukiah. Gelphman went to Barango in South San Francisco. The company presented a sketch, which Gelphman approved right away.
The entire display is 10 feet tall and about 8 feet wide, constructed of California manzanita. The display includes a traditional chanukiah, measuring about 6 feet in height, and a large arch reaching overhead. The chanukiah includes functioning outdoor lights on each of its branches.
Gelphman was pleased with the result. “They do ‘Christmas in the Park’ very well,” he commented. “They have a very high standard, so I had to meet that standard.” Asked about the cost of the display, he said only, “More than I expected.”
He hopes that one day the event will become even more inclusive of all cultures and will perhaps be called “Holiday in the Park.”