The Seal Beach Police Department is investigating the vandalism of a menorah that took place in December. At present, there are no suspects in the case.
“The crime had not been reported to the Police Department when it occurred,” wrote Sgt. Nick Nicholas in a Feb. 3 email to the Sun. Sgt. Nicholas is the SBPD’s public information officer.
“An officer met with Leisure World Security today [Feb. 3] and took a report. Sometime between 11-29-2019 and 12-05-2019, a Menorah which was placed on the public access area near the Leisure World Main Gate was vandalized,” Nicholas wrote.
“The Menorah was knocked down and broken. There were no witnesses to the crime and no video or photographic evidence was available. At this point in the investigation, no suspect information was obtained,” wrote Nicholas.
“The word ‘menorah’ is Hebrew for ‘lamp,’ and generally refers to either the seven-branched golden candelabra that was lit every day in the Tabernacle, and then the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, or the eight-flamed lamp that is lit on the eight nights of the Jewish holiday of Chanukah,” according to chabad.org.
According to the website, in the second century BCE, Syrian-Greeks ruled the Holy Land and tried to force the people of Israel to practice the rulers’ beliefs instead of their own.
Judah the Maccabee defeated the Selecuid forces and reclaimed the Holy Temple, according to the Chabad website.
“When they sought to light the menorah, they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks. Miraculously, they lit the menorah, and the one-day supply of oil lasted for eight days, until new oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity,” according to the Chabad website.
“To commemorate and publicize these miracles, the sages instituted the festival of Chanukah,” according to the Chabad website.l
