'World's Largest Menorah' Returns To Midtown Manhattan

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A menorah certified the world's tallest by the Guinness Book of World Records will return to Midtown Manhattan this weekend for the eighty-day celebration of Hanukkah.

The golden menorah designed by renowned artist Yaacov Agam rises 33-feet-tall and weighs about 4,000 pounds. It's home for this year's Hanukkah celebration will be the on Fifth Avenue and 59th Street in front of the Plaza Hotel and across the street from Central Park.

Nightly menorah lightnings are organized by the Lubavitch Youth Organization as part of a worldwide campaign to celebrate Hanukkah. The campaign was started in 1973 by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson.

This year's celebration is expected to drawn thousands of people, Rabbi Shmuel M. Butman, director of Lubavitch Youth Organization, said in a statement. A recent rise in antisemitism and the deadly attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh will not prevent people from celebrating the Jewish festival of lights, Butman said in a statement.

"When faced with darkness and hatred, the light of the menorah serves as a symbol of strength and inspiration, democracy and freedom for all people, delivering a timely and poignant message to each person on an individual basis," Butman said in a statement.

Here's a schedule for menorah lightnings on all eight days of Hanukkah:

• Sunday, Dec. 2 at 5:30 p.m.
• Monday, Dec. 3 at 5:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 5:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 5:30 p.m.
• Thursday, Dec. 6 at 5:30 p.m.
• Friday, Dec. 7 at 3:30 p.m.
• Saturday, Dec. 8 at 8:30 p.m.
• Sunday, Dec. 9 at 5:30 p.m.

Photo by Mendel Benamou / Chabad.org courtesy Lubavitch Youth Organization