Treasured menorahs help bring a St. Petersburg family together for Hanukkah

ST. PETERSBURG — Every year Erin Eichenbaum’s family gathers at her Snell Isle home for the start of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights. They eat potato latkes and other traditional foods, then as darkness falls they light the menorahs.

And what a collection of menorahs it is. There’s a menorah dating back generations. There’s the menorah designed by the famed Judaic artist David Klass. And there is the menorah that Eichenbaum, a St. Petersburg native, made when she was in kindergarten at the now-closed Pinellas County Jewish Day School.

This year the first candles will be lit Nov. 28, marking the start of the eight-day celebration that runs to Dec. 6.

“It’s very festive,” Eichenbaum says.

Hanukkah commemorates the victory of the Maccabees, a Jewish group, over their oppressors and the rededication of their temple in Jerusalem. They had only enough oil to light the temple for one day, but miraculously it lasted eight days — hence the menorah with holders for eight candles, one to be lit each day of Hanukkah.

The oldest, largest and most ornate menorah in the Eichenbaum family collection was found 20 years ago in an antique store in Italy by a grandparent living there at the time. Made of sterling silver in the late 1800s, it is the only menorah that uses oil instead of candles. “We’ve never actually lit it but it’s a lovely piece,” Eichenbaum says.

She and husband David, a physician, received one of the menorahs as a wedding gift in 2001. (They have two children, Mari, 9, and Max, 4.) The menorah was made by Jay Strongwater, a designer acclaimed for his lavishly bejeweled gift items.

Other menorahs in the family collection include one from Denmark and another that an aunt prizes because she found it in an upscale women’s accessories store “not known for having Jewish items,” as Eichenbaum puts it.

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Hanukkah is considered a relatively minor religious holiday but has gained popularity in the United States and elsewhere because it occurs around the same time as Christmas. And like Christmas, “it’s just a lovely time for everyone to get together,” Eichenbaum says.