AUBURN — The weather canceled the Twin Cities’ Menorah lighting Wednesday, and Thursday was a national holiday.

“I just decided I was not going to compete with Thanksgiving,” Rabbi Hillel Katzir said Friday just before lighting the 12-foot-tall mega-menorah outside Temple Shalom Synagogue-Center.

A small crowd gathered as Katzir marked the third night of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights. With a magnetic boom, he lifted four fuel-filled cans into place — one for each night of the celebration that has been observed, plus the “shamash” light. That’s typically the first one lit, he said, and can be used to light the others.

Here, a second boom attached to a blowtorch did the job, lighting all four lights. After a whoosh of fire, a whiff of kerosene and a few songs, the ceremony was over.

Katzir said he’ll be back at 5 p.m. each night through Hanukkah to light the menorah, with one more flame each night until all are lit — the shamash and all eight Hanukkah lights.

This is the first time since 1888 Hanukkah has come so early in the year and melded with Thanksgiving. The Jewish year is marked by a corrected lunar calendar, meaning it can move around throughout the secular calendar year.

“But Passover must happen in the spring, so we will add a leap month in the spring to make it match,” Katzir said.

In 2014, the holiday will be on Dec. 16 through 24, due to that leap month.

The temple’s big Hanukkah celebration this year is scheduled for Sunday night, with food and smaller menorahs indoors to light after the big one outside is lit for the night.

Hanukkah continues through Thursday.

staylor@sunjournal.com

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