San Franciscans and those visiting from out of town celebrated Christmas by participating in beautiful religious services across the city.
“The whole point of the holiday is religious freedom. That there’s no reason why we have to be sitting in our own homes and only practicing our religion. But, thank God we live in America, we have religious freedom,” Rabbi Moshe Langer of Chabad of San Francisco told CBS News Bay Area.
Rabbi Langer and community members kicked off the 49th menorah lighting ceremony at Union Square Wednesday evening. The 22-foot mahogany menorah stands tall, just steps away from the Christmas tree in Union Square, symbolizing co-existence and unity.
The rabbi also adds that there are 15,000 public menorah lightings outside of Israel, and the Bill Graham Menorah in Union Square is even more special.
“In 1975, when this was built and placed here in Union Square for the first time, this was the first (massive) public menorah outside of Israel,” Langer said.