The Dayton area’s Jewish community organizations will join together to host a Chanukah torch relay culminating in a community-wide celebration with “kosher gospel” as part of A Sole-ful Chanukah on Sunday, Dec. 17, the second day of Chanukah.

The celebration is a project of the Dayton Synagogue Forum — Beth Abraham Synagogue, Beth Jacob Congregation, Temple Beth Or and Temple Israel — in partnership with Hillel Academy, the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton and Chabad of Greater Dayton.

Chanukah torch relay
Starting at 8 a.m., runners will bring a “community Chanukah torch” to the following locations for menorah lighting ceremonies on an approximate schedule:

• 8 a.m.: Beth Jacob Congregation

• 8:30 a.m.: Hillel Academy

• 9:15 a.m.: Beth Abraham Synagogue

• 10:05 a.m.: Temple Israel

• 11 a.m.: Chabad of Greater Dayton

• noon: Temple Beth Or, and then to the Boonshoft CJCE for a community-wide menorah lighting.

Main event at Boonshoft CJCE
Beginning at noon at the Boonshoft CJCE, event hosts will present a Modin village, a recreation of the place of the Maccabees’ origin, with characters from the Chanukah story.

The village will feature candlemaking, an oil press, pita bread making on an open fire, and an Israeli vendor marketplace.

Bernstein’s Fine Catering will sell kosher food, including falafel, latkes and sufganyiot (doughnuts).

The Israel Project
High school- and college-age students are encouraged to join a session at 1 p.m. with Meagan Shaina Buren, community outreach manager for the Israel Project. Buren will present the discussion Chanukah: Rededicating and Educating ourselves to speak about Israel.

‘Kosher gospel’
The highlight of the day will be a 2 p.m. concert with “kosher gospel” singer Joshua Nelson. Growing up in a black-Jewish synagogue, Nelson takes the soul Hebrew sounds prominent in many black synagogues and brings them to the outside world, blending Jewish liturgical and African-American musical styles. His performance style has also been influenced by his extensive travels through Israel.

Nelson has performed with Wynton Marsalis, Aretha Franklin, The Klezmatics, Cab Calloway and Dizzy Gillespie. He is  director of music at Hopewell Baptist Church in Newark, N.J. and is a Hebrew school teacher at Temple Shari-Tefilo Israel in South Orange, N.J.

A Sole-ful Chanukah is free and open to the public. Support for the program comes from the Louis S. Cantor, Rose Sorkin Cantor, Samuel L. Cantor, and Lena Cantor Temple Israel and Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton Inc. Fund, and the Miriam Siegel Marks Fund.
For more information about the event, e-mail Information@jfgd.net.