Chanukah in Carefree
Nightly Menorah Lighting
December 7-14, 2023 | 5:30pm
at the Sanderson Lincoln Pavilion
in Carefree, Arizona
This is an outdoor event with enhanced security measures in place.
We are also LIVE streaming every night.
Please use the links provided below to LIVE STREAM in on each specific night, or to view the recording of the event after broadcast.
Chanukah Events Calendar and LIVE Stream Links
Friday, December 8th
5:30pm MST
2nd NIGHT
Bauman Family
Celebrate a special Chanukah
Shabbat with the Baumans.
Tzedakah Recipient:
Purse Impressions
The evening is also promoted
by Shayna Maidels
Chanukah in Carefree Event Details
This evening of music will feature Cantor Ross Wolman & the Temple Chai Adult Choir. There will be a mix of classics and new tunes, so please join us for singing and frelich fun! Also enjoy special Chanukah treats of delicious Potato Latkes and Sufganiyot.
The Bauman Family has been leading a heartwarming family Shabbat ceremony during Chanukah since the first year of this event. This evening, the Cave Creek Unified School District Choirs will perform.
Also, this evening the Bauman family has chosen Purse-Impressions to be the Tzedakah recipient. Purse-Impressions is an amazing Charity Boutique that transforms the tragedy and heartbreak of losing a child from addiction into inspiration and compassion for others who are overcoming addiction in their own lives. Come welcome Shabbat and bring a handbag or backpack to donate to help the many people whose lives are touched by this amazing charity.
Shayna Maidels will also be promoting this amazing charity and participating in this special Chanukah Shabbat.
Rabbi Bonnie Sharfman will be leading the closing ceremony of Shabbat (Havdalah) before lighting the Chanukkiah (Menorah), on the 3rd night of Chanukah. In addition to the wonderful tradition of Havdalah that Rabbi Sharfman shares so beautifully, we invite you to enjoy some delicious Mediterranean food provided by Athens on Easy Street.
The Valley of the Sun JCC and Shemesh Camp will be lighting the Menorah this evening, while the wonderful Cantor Noa Shaashua from Temple Kol Ami will lead us in song. We will have games, activities, and arts and crafts for the children in the community to enjoy. Delicious holiday cookies and hot chocolate will also be served.
This evening we are also collecting non-perishable food items to donate to the Foothills Food Bank.
We are honored to have Holocaust survivor and author, Dirk Van Leenen, share his testimony of survival and courage. Dirk was born in Holland after the start of WWII to a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father. Dirk’s father was responsible for saving thousands of Jewish people from the Nazis. His father brought many people to hiding places on farms, where they had more food than was available to them in the ghettos. A warehouse where bicycles were rented served as the center of the resistance. Some of those being smuggled into hiding were hidden in the bicycles’ baskets, under a layer of things such as fish heads, which discouraged the Nazis from looking very closely.
The Nazis eventually found out that Dirk’s father was helping Jews and arrested him. Dirk’s family was put on a train for a four-day trip to Bergen-Belsen, with no food, water, or toilets. Many people died on the way. The camp was liberated the day after Dirk arrived there. However, his aunts, uncles and all but two of his cousins had died in the camps. The only two who survived had figured out a way to escape from the train taking them to the camp.
After sharing stories about his experiences in Holland during World War II for several years, Dirk’s children and grandchildren urged him to write a book about those difficult times. Dirk has written three books about his and his family’s experiences, and still travels back to the Netherlands. Dirk lives in Mesa and often speaks about the Holocaust. His books (“Resistance on a Bicycle,” “The Americans are Coming” and “The Last Train to the Concentration Camp”) will be available for sale at the event.
We will be providing traditional Sufganiyot with coffee and hot chocolate on this special evening.
This is a Jewish organization located in the North Scottsdale/Carefree/Cave Creek area. Carol Consalvo, President of DFJCA, will be representing the group in lighting the menorah, and a special guest will be leading us in song. Everyone is encouraged to bring a small holiday gift (approximately $10.00) to donate to Jewish Family Children’s Services this evening.
The group’s Founder and Leader, Ora Kurland, will recite the blessings in Hebrew, and will provide a traditional, meaningful celebration of Chanukah for all.
The Center for Jewish Philanthropy, with its multiple agencies, will lead the lighting of the Menorah this evening, and also light their beautiful oil burning Menorah with olives pressed on site. Come have a hands-on experience making olive oil for the oil burning Chanukiah, and sample delicious varieties of olive oil donated by Cave Creek Olive Oil Company, with locally baked bites of Challah donated by Samz Sweetz. Locally baked Challah loaves will also be available for purchase. Also serving traditional Potato Latkes with applesauce and sour cream. The PJ Library will lead a crafts program for kids 12 and under. Jewish Free Loan and Gesher Disability Services will also participate this evening. And the amazing Early Childhood Center (ECC) teacher Erez Kessler, will lead us in song.