One of the primary lessons of Chanukah is to increase in light and goodness. This certainly seems to be the case for the Deaf Jewish community in the United States, where an expected 700 people will celebrate at no less than four different giant menorah-lightings.

On Sunday, Dec. 6, the first night of Chanukah, Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff of the Jewish Deaf Foundation will be joined by faculty and students for the third annual public menorah-lighting ceremony on the campus of Gallaudet University, the Washington, D.C.-based liberal-arts institution where all programs and services are geared for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

When the very first event was held, Steve Brenner, past president of the Washington Society of Jewish Deaf, called it “one of the most unique happening among the Jewish Deaf community in the Greater Washington area for the past 50 years.”

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Chabad Gallaudet is a project of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) in Washington, D.C.

Two nights later, on Tuesday, Dec. 8, the party will be in Rochester, N.Y., where Deaf locals will gather at the Rohr Chabad House at the University of Rochester for a grand menorah-lighting ceremony with a special 9-foot-high menorah designed by Ellen Mansfield, a Jewish Deaf artist. Rachel Soudakoff (the rabbi’s sister, who is also Deaf) and Allison Friedman, both Deaf students at the nearby National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester (RIT), will entertain with unique Chanukah skits. There will be an art gallery exhibition of Jewish-themed De’VIA (Deaf View/Image Art).

Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff at last year's Chanukah menorah-lighting at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Kami Padden)

Moving right along, the rabbi will be in New York City (at the Park East Synagogue on the Upper East Side, to be exact) for yet another evening of menorahs, art, latkes, doughnuts and festivity. This time, he will be joined by Howard Rosenblum, CEO of the National Association of the Deaf, who will be attending the event from Maryland. The night’s entertainment will be supplied by John Maucere, a Deaf Hollywood actor who often appears as the superhero “SuperDeafy.”

Then, in time to light the eighth candle, the Deaf party will be 3,000 miles west in balmy Los Angeles. Much of the program will be similar to the previous ones, including a repeat appearance from Maucere.