Giant menorah lit in Central Park as Hanukkah begins

NEW YORK -- New York City celebrated the start of Hanukkah with the ceremonial lighting of a 32-foot-tall menorah at the edge of Central Park.

Dignitaries, rabbis, and a large crowd attended Saturday's ceremony, held on a plaza on 5th Avenue near the Park's southeast corner.

The steel menorah weighs 4,000 pounds and stands tall enough that organizers need an electric utility crane to reach the top. It has real oil lamps, protected from the wind by glass chimneys.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer and Rabbi Schmuel Butman of the Lubavitch Youth Organization were on hand to light the first lamp.

The eight-day Jewish holiday celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

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