FAIRHOPE — Chabad of Mobile gathered on the Eastern Shore on a cold Sunday night for Hanukkah celebrations on the Jewish holiday's first night.

During the event, a menorah was built made out of donated cans of food, with the food being donated to the Feeding the Gulf Coast food bank, which will then be distributed to those in need. The food was donated over the course of three weeks. Chabad of Mobile also held an event in Mobile on Dec. 16, which will see the participation of Mobile's newly elected mayor, Spiro Cheriogotis.

Rabbi Yosef Goldwasser said the congregation's theme this year is to try to be a light unto other people amid darkness. He cited the mass shooting that occurred in Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, earlier that day, where two gunmen killed at least 16 people during a Hanukkah celebration hosted by the Chabad of Sydney.

Hanukkah is a wintertime "festival of lights" that spans eight days and commemorates the victory of the Maccabees, a group of Jews who refused to assimilate their religion and culture, over the Syrian army in the year 165 and subsequent rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, which had been destroyed in the fighting.

Today, celebrations feature the lighting of the menorah, with one candle being added each night, a symbol of the miracle of only a few days of oil in the Temple lasting for eight until more could be brought into the city to replenish the "eternal light" that is supposed to burn above the altar in any synagogue. Other traditions include playing dreidel and eating foods fried in oil, such as latkes (potato pancakes) and doughnuts.

"We are here to show everybody that we are not giving into darkness, and the light of the menorah lasted until now and will last forever," Goldwasser said.