Donated piano central to menorah display
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The Jewish Festival of Lights, Hanukkah, begins Sunday. And, with the donation of a grand piano, one Jewish woman who lived in the area for most of her 100 years sent some light to patients and visitors at UPMC Altoona.
Shirley Pechter, who now lives in New York, gifted a grand piano for the hospital's atrium.
"Employees come down and play spontaneously," said Jan Fisher, president of UPMC Altoona. "And they always gather a crowd."
When no one is playing it, an automatic player function ensures the piano plays every day for hospital visitors, Fisher said.
About 50 people gathered Monday to celebrate the forthcoming holiday while singing around the piano and a large Hanukkah menorah as guest pianist Neil Port played holiday songs.
The menorah lighting is the 30th annual celebration of Hanukkah at the hospital.
"The Hanukkah menorah represents the light we bring to darkness in history and seasonally," said Rabbi Audrey Korotkin of Temple Beth Israel in Altoona. "I hope it is also a symbol to other people living in the darkness of oppression."
Hanukkah is an eight-day commemoration of the Temple by the Maccabees after their victory over the Syrians.
The Maccabees found only one small vial of holy oil to light the altar after they had cleansed the temple of idols, but Jewish folklore has it that the oil lasted miraculously for eight days.
The eight candles on the menorah symbolize the miracles during those days. Hanukkah begins sundown on Sunday and continues through Dec. 30.
Ben Matis, cantor at Agudath Achim Congregation in Altoona, said the menorah lighting with dozens of people of all faiths at the hospital felt good and was especially needed after news over the weekend that police are investigating a possible hate crime at a Jewish congregation in Los Angeles.
At Nessah Synagogue, vandalism Saturday left furniture overturned and several relics damaged.
The Los Angeles Times reported police were investigating the incident as a hate crime, but that there is no evidence to suggest that the attack was anti-Semitic in nature.
And still in the forefront of Matis' memory is the mass shooting last year at the Tree of Life congregation in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Eleven people were killed and seven wounded in an attack during Shabbat morning services.
"A little light shed into the darkness is a good thing," Matis said after the hospital's celebration.