(ABC 6 News) — A menorah shines brightly in Rochester’s Peace Plaza this Chanukah.

The Chabad Lubavitch Center for Jewish Life helped ring in the community’s Chanukah celebrations on Wednesday and Thursday night, with the lighting of the first two candles in celebration of the Jewish festival of lights.

“Hanukkah is a celebration in the Jewish community for over 2000 years,” said Rabbi Shloime Greene, “…commemorating the rededication of the Temple in the Holy Land of Israel in Jerusalem, which was desecrated by the Syrian Greek armies and persecution of the Jewish religion. And after a war, the Jewish people persevered and were able to reconquer the the the city of Jerusalem and their holy temple.”

“We are proud to live in a world,” Greene added, “…and in America, where we are able to express our religion with freedom of religion and the menorah as a symbol of religious freedom and the triumph of peace over evil, and of light over darkness.”

In addition to hot cider, latkes and donuts, folks gathering in Peace Plaza enjoyed a “gelt drop” with the help from Rochester Fire Department’s ladder truck.

The last day of the festival, January 2, will see another public menorah lit, this time at the Olmsted County Government Center.