Chaplain Lou White got permission from the administration and engineering employees Joe Hughes and Jim DeStefano researched Menorahs, then fabricated a weather-proof version from steel, and the ceremony took place.

They set the menorah in front of the hospital grounds and it shone “out onto the community” — one in which Jews are a small minority, Wallen said after the most recent Menorah lighting ceremony held indoors Friday at what is now UPMC Altoona.

The menorah represents the recapture and rededication of the Jewish Temple more than 2,000 years ago, when one day’s worth of oil burned for a miracle eight days in celebration of the victory — but it’s more than that, according to Wallen and Rabbi Audrey Korotkin of Temple Beth Israel, who also participated in Friday’s ceremony.

It’s not just for Jews, but for everyone in metaphorical “darkness,” it’s one of many celebrations of light traditional in Northern Hemispheric cultures during the darkest days of the year and it represents our natural longing for light — light that is necessary to keep up our spirits during those literal dark times, they said.

Rabbi Audrey Korotkin of Temple Beth Israel speaks during the menorah lighting ceremony in the lobby of UPMC Altoona on Friday in celebration of the upcoming Hanukkah holiday. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

About 50 attended the ceremony in the lobby, including non-Jewish people, and that is a critical element, Korotkin said.

“We’re blessed in our community in having so many people gather with us to celebrate our holy days,” she said.

It’s telling that most in attendance Friday could sing along with the “Dreidel song,” she said.

What happens in Altoona contrasts with what happens in many places around the world, “where Jews don’t count for anything, unless they’re being attacked, reviled and hated,” Korotkin said.

As a tiny minority in so many locations, Jews tend to be vulnerable and to “always watch behind us,” Korotkin said.

But here, “we feel the community is behind us, and supporting us, which means a great deal,” she said.

It helps that the Jewish community in Altoona doesn’t isolate itself, but is a full participant in the larger community — serving others and raising funds, the rabbi said.

This year, Hanukkah, the first day of the eight-day celebration, falls on Christmas Day, helping to symbolize the alignment of Jewish and Christian principles — especially that of peace, said Don Clippinger, Korotkin’s husband, lawyer and retired journalist.

The celebrations are designed to offset darkness, and these are “tough times in the country and the world” — “but I’m an optimist,” said Neil Port, local businessman and entrepreneur, who played the piano during the ceremony.

At the ceremony, members of the hospital chaplaincy took turns reading lines of “The Harmony of the Hanukkiyah,” to accompany the lighting of each of the eight bulbs on the successor indoor menorah.

“One candle lights another/ and darkness is dispelled. … One candle lights two others/ and the brightness reaches beyond…”

“When we light candles, we don’t think just of Jews and our history, but people around the world in darkness,” Korotkin said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.