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About an hour after sundown on Sunday, a hydraulic lift hoisted several people, including a rabbi, to the top of a 36-foot steel menorah erected in front of The Plaza Hotel on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.

Hundreds of spectators gathered to see the gold-painted, 4,000-pound menorah, undeterred by a light rain. Shortly after the people reached the top, the candelabrum’s right oil lantern flickered to life, kicking off Hanukkah, the eight-day celebration of the Jewish Festival of Lights.

The giant menorah, which shined bright against the dark fog that blanketed Central Park, has been lit hundreds of times by rabbis, mayors and governors. It has long been a joyous fixture of the holiday season in New York City since it was first erected in 1977.

But, for many, this year was different. For them, the annual Hanukkah ritual felt more significant in the wake of a mass shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue in October that left 11 dead. The Anti-Defamation League described the rampage, by a man who shouted anti-Semitic slurs as he opened fire, as the deadliest attack against the Jewish community in the United States.