Hanukkah takes on a very Arizona flair when Mel and EllenBett Kline welcome the community to the unusual menorah lighting at their home each year.
This will be the eighth year that the Phoenix couple has welcomed hundreds of people to witness the lighting of their saguaro Hanukkah menorah, which they believe to be the only such natural hanukkiah in the world.
“Hanukkah is meant to be shared with everyone and it is a true mitzvah in doing so,” says Mel. “Most Jewish families are to put their menorah in the window for all to see and share. We just have a larger menorah than usual and have it growing in our front yard for all to see.”
When Mel planted the cactus in 1978, it was about 10 feet tall with two short arms. Over the years it grew six more arms as the center grew upward. Now the central trunk that serves as the shamash (helper candle) is approximately 35 feet tall – certainly much larger and more visible than your ordinary household hanukkiah.
This year lighting starts Wednesday, Nov. 27 and continues through Thursday, Dec. 5. Lighting is every night at 6:30 pm except for Friday night at 5 pm at the northwest corner of 46th Street and Mountain View Road in Phoenix.
“Before starting I always light all the arms and shamash so everyone can see the full menorah in all its splendor,” says Mel. “Then I turn off all lights and start the night’s lighting, sing the prayer together, give a little Hanukkah explanation. After all the ‘ooohs & aaahs’ and reflecting on the menorah against the night sky, we offer homemade doughnuts to all.” EllenBett says her fryer only holds four doughnuts at a time, so it’s very time consuming to make fresh doughnuts for each night’s lighting. But she says it’s worth the work because, “Everybody looks forward to them.”
Typically 25 to 50 people come to see the splendor each night during Hanukkah, with about 150 people on the last night. “Many come back every year and some make it a tradition and others hear about it and want to see the Hanukkah ‘miracle’ in our front yard,” says Mel. “Can you imagine sharing our Hanukkah with about 2,000 people over the past seven years and all those homemade doughnuts?”
EllenBett says they get notes afterward from people from across the country who saw the menorah while visiting Arizona. Last year a nearby senior living facility brought a vanload of residents and Sisters from the Evangelical Sisters of Mary Retreat close by come each year. This year, with Hanukkah coinciding with Thanksgiving, Mel says he plans to share “a few words relating to the THANKfullness we have here in America.”
