Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights and religious freedom, begins tonight, with special remembrances planned for Israel at war and the hostages being held.

“The whole Hanukkah message is to bring light to the world, especially in the dark times,” said Rabbi Levi Weinbaum of Chabad of Alabama.

Hanukkah commemorates the victory of Jewish revolutionaries, the Maccabees, over the tyrant Antiochus, who outlawed Judaism in 167 B.C.

“The Greeks didn’t want to kill us, they just wanted us to not keep God’s commandments,” Weinbaum said. “Through history, we’ve seen the same thing.”

Tradition holds that when the Maccabees restored the temple in Jerusalem, they were saddened to see there was only enough ritual olive oil left to burn for a day, but it burned for eight days, the amount of time it took them to prepare a new batch of oil. The candles on a Hanukkah menorah help recall that story. The number of candles lighted each night increases, until all eight candles are lighted on the eighth night.

“The message of Hanukkah is that we’re here to stay,” Weinbaum said. “We’re going to be here forever, and we’re going to keep bringing light to the world, no matter what our enemies want.”

The grand menorah lighting ceremony for Birmingham will be at The Summit shopping center in the Saks Plaza, Sunday, Dec. 10, starting at 4:30 p.m.

“We will have first a vigil and a prayer for Israel, a prayer for the soldiers, and then we will go ahead and start with the Hanukkah program and lighting of the menorah,” Weinbaum said. “At the main lighting on Sunday, we’re going to do a vigil, where we’re going to announce each of the hostages and we’re going to light menorahs for each, since they can’t be doing that mitzvah for this year in Gaza, because they will be with the terrorists.”

Chabad of Alabama will be involved in numerous public menorah lightings in Alabama, including seven in the Birmingham metro, at UAB and in Birmingham, Homewood, Hoover, Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills.

“It’s a time where we’re thankful to Alabama, we’re thankful to our mayors, we’re thankful to people who have let us people these public menorahs up,” Weinbaum said. “It’s a message that we need to send stronger than ever before, to not be embarrassed, not be shy and not be scared of people who want to come to destroy us.”

The first menorah lighting will be at UAB today at noon in the Wallace Tumor Institute. The Mountain Brook menorah lighting will be tonight, Dec. 7, at 5 p.m., in front of Jeni’s Ice Cream in Mountain Brook Village.

The Homewood menorah lighting will be Monday, Dec. 11, at 5 p.m. in front of Trak Shak.

The menorah lighting at Birmingham City Hall will be Tuesday, Dec. 13, at 4 p.m.

The Hoover menorah lighting will be on Wednesday, Dec. 13, at 5 p.m. at the Hoover Public Library.

The Vestavia Hills menorah lighting will be on Thursday, Dec. 14, at 5:30 p.m. at Vestavia Hills City Hall.

“There will be heavy security for all the events,” Weinbaum said. “That’s life. We’re going to continue.”

Hanukkah ends at nightfall on Dec. 15.