City hall to mark Chanukah with menorah for the first time

Members of the local Jewish community said they had been asking Norwich City Council for months to discuss ways to celebrate the eight-day period, which started this week.

However, they say the authority had been “delaying meetings and ignoring emails” on the subject.

Previous Chanukah celebrations in the city have been hosted outside the Forum (Image: Stuart Goodman)

Their concerns were raised at a recent synagogue service in the city and were picked up by the Jewish Chronicle newspaper.

Its reporter then contacted the council on Wednesday, the day before the festival began, when a spokesman confirmed a menorah - the traditional candelabra used in Jewish worship - would be placed on the City Hall balcony for one night.

It comes at a time of heightened community tensions following the Hamas terror attack on October 7 and Israel's response.

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The conflict has triggered an upsurge in anti-Semitic attacks in the UK.

Last month, Havering Council in Essex said it would not be installing a menorah outside its town hall over fears of the risk of vandalism, before a backlash prompted a U-turn.

That row led communities secretary Michael Gove to say it would be “wholly wrong” for councils to cancel Chanukah celebrations over fears of “provocation”.

Mike Stonard said the council is working toward celebrating all religious holidays (Image: Steve Adams)

Norwich City Hall has been the venue for regular protests by pro-Palestinians and a recent council meeting had to be stopped for 15 minutes after activists in the public gallery started chanting.

Socialist Appeal Norwich has been campaigning locally, calling for “intifada until victory”.

The Jewish Chronicle reported that a delay in the city council announcing its Chanukah plans was due to concerns about the possibility of violence if a menorah were to be displayed close to the regular protests.

Announcing the celebrations, council leader Mike Stonard said: "Norwich has long been a city of tolerance and diversity."

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"In building a city where everyone is safe and welcome, it is our intention going forward to mark all of the major religious festivals in Norwich and I have instructed officers to develop a strategy for the council to reflect the key faith festivals across our communities, including Eid and Diwali.

"Here in Norwich, the council can play an important role in fostering good relations between all faiths and all communities, ensuring we remain an inclusive, respectful, tolerant and accepting place for everyone."

In previous years, a menorah lighting event has been held at the Forum. But the venue said it had not been approached to host one this year.

Rabbi Ben Sheldrake, of the Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue in Essex Street, said: "We just celebrated our first night of candles on Thursday and will be lighting candles inside the synagogue until next Thursday for security reasons.

The lighting of the menorah will be the first such event hosted at City Hall (Image: Newsquest)

"We've had a number of concerning interactions with people lately but also a great number of people who come to us for help and comfort and who just want to see an end to what's happening in Israel and Palestine.

"But a menorah on display at City Hall sounds like a positive act for our community and I'm sure everyone here at Essex Street will be keen to see it."

Dr Marian Prinsley, former sheriff of Norwich and vice president of Norwich Hebrew Congregation, said: "I think the city council has done the right thing and we are happy with the situation."

Norwich has a dark history of anti-Semitism as the birthplace of the so-called blood libel, when the city's Jewish community was falsely accused of the murder of a child called William in 1144.