By Jacob Kamaras
CHULA VISTA, California — How does it feel to be included?
Southern California’s Jewish community experienced precisely that feeling December 19 on the first day of Chanukah at Sesame Place San Diego, which hosted a Chanukah celebration that featured a menorah candle lighting ceremony, a dance party with Chanukah music, dreidel playing with Elmo, Chanukah storytime, and kosher food and drinks.
As children eagerly lined up after storytime to meet their favorite Sesame Street characters, the air was filled with the unmistakable message that Sesame Place not only celebrated Chanukah but went a step further by making the holiday the centerpiece of an entire day at the all-new theme park in Chula Vista.
“I grew up on the East Coast, and while theme parks there offer kosher food, this was really a whole Jewish event,” Rebbetzin Brooke Reich of La Jolla’s Congregation Adat Yeshurun told San Diego Jewish World. “It was authentic through and through, and it was just great to feel how much Sesame Place made us feel special to be Jewish.”
Indeed, that was the theme park’s goal for the Chanukah event.
“Inclusivity is so core to the Sesame Street DNA, so of course Sesame Place is designed as a place where everyone can feel truly welcome,” said Zoe Moed, marketing director for SeaWorld San Diego and Sesame Place San Diego.
Rabbi Daniel Reich, rabbi of Adat Yeshurun, noted the event’s significance in the context of the current challenges facing the American Jewish community and society at-large.
“Chanukah in particular was a great opportunity for Sesame Place to do something like this, because we live in a world with a lot of darkness and a lot of polarization, and people having a sense of disdain towards one another—and frankly even towards religion on some level,” Rabbi Reich said. “It’s just so natural that Chanukah should be the holiday that serves as the springboard for Sesame Place to bring light into the world.”
He continued, “That’s what we’re all about in Judaism. We’re all about bringing more peace and more tranquility to the entire world. And that’s exactly what Chanukah represents.”
La Jolla resident Suzanne Marcus, who attended with her children and grandchildren, called the celebration “an especially fun family event for Chanukah.”
“The Chanukah music, the menorah lighting and dancing to Chanukah tunes, the kosher food, the glorious weather—it was all so special for the Jewish community in San Diego,” she said.
In fact, Moed said that the event “was just a taste of the exciting and thoughtful family-friendly activities we will be offering at Sesame Place in 2023.”
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Jacob Kamaras is editor and publisher of San Diego Jewish World.
Thanks for highlighting this special event and the hope is that more people will know about it if it offered again next year!