On December 23, Rabbi Itchy Grossbaum, from Thornhill, was welcomed by Whitby’s Mayor Pat Perkins, to Whitby’s first official public Chanukah candle lighting ceremony at Whitby’s Celebration Square. Over 70 people of the Whitby community, members of the Whitby Jewish communities (members in both the neighbouring Ajax and Oshawa synagogues), and guests from Toronto to Bowmanville, were in attendance. Following the Mayor’s welcome, Sarah Konecny, 11, thanked the Mayor and introduced attending rabbi. Rabbi Grossbaum lead the crowd in a blessing, the participants then recited a Chanukah candle lighting prayer, and together all sang Ma’oz Tzur. As part of Konecny‘s year of study for bat mitzvah, her Hebrew teacher Koren Kassirer challenged her to think of, and actualize a "good deed for the world." She chose to ask The Town of Whitby if some recognition of Chanukah could be added to the seasonal festivities, held annually at Whitby’s Celebration Square. To her family’s and the community’s delight, Mayor Perkins embraced the idea.
