‘Light Up Dunwoody’ to Feature Memorial Menorah
The menorah will honor the memory of Rose Ida Lubin, the Lone Soldier from Dunwoody who was killed in action in Israel last year.
Light Up Dunwoody, the holiday event organized by the Dunwoody Homeowners Association, is raising money for a new menorah, which will be dedicated in memory of Rose Ida Lubin.
“As we were in the process of working on it and looking at the menorah we were going to get, the idea came up to do it in honor of Rose,” said DHA board member Jeanie Posner. “We did not know at the time that Rose was born during Chanukah, so then it really became important.”
Rose was born on the third night of Chanukah in 2002 (5763), and often celebrated her birthday with the holiday.
“Many times, I could not make her English birthday, and I was always like ‘we’ll celebrate your birthday this year on your Hebrew birthday,’” said her mother, Robin Lubin. “We did that more than we probably celebrated her English birthday.”
“A lot of meaning behind that holiday is something that Rose cherished in her life,” her father, David Lubin, said. “She lived her life by going out there, and wearing her Judaism on her sleeve, and never being embarrassed of who she was, and being a Jew. It was something that she made sure everyone knew who she was, and was unwilling to not be Jewish in order to fit in.”
Her mother shared a story of Rose doing just that, after getting a short translation assignment in Latin class, and realizing it was about King Antiochus from the Greek and Roman perspective.
“She went and found the Chanukah story, and wrote it out in English, and then translated it into Latin. The whole entire story,” Robin Lubin said. “And she asked, ‘can you please read this to the class?’ And she ends up reading the Chanukah story to her class. Everybody was just sort of ‘wow.’ It was a little tiny paragraph, she could’ve been done with it, like everyone else, but she ended up translating it to Hebrew also, because she was curious. She said, ‘I wonder if Hebrew has meaning in the words that English and Latin can’t have.’ So, she translated the whole thing into Hebrew to see if there was some sort of underlying meaning to the words and the story.”
This will not be the first year the Lubin family has participated in Light Up Dunwoody.
“Last year, Zalmy Goldberg, of the Mitzvah House, invited us for part of the lighting one night, which was in memory of Rose.”
That year, the previous menorah couldn’t be retrieved from storage, and they were only able to have a menorah because Goldberg lent his to the DHA. This year, thanks to the efforts of Facebook groups Jewish Moms of Atlanta and Jewish Women of Atlanta, the fundraising has already reached around $5,000 of its $6,500 goal, and plans are being made to purchase a 13-foot menorah and a plaque dedicating it to Rose Lubin, as well as to make a small fund to for any long-term repairs and other costs.
“The important thing is letting people know, it is the $18 and the $36,” said Posner. “Yes, it’s great when we get a donation of a hundred or more, but it’s also nice to know that it’s the community that’s doing this, and that’s been very touching – that we’ve had so much support.”
The entire menorah will be lit starting on the opening ceremony on Nov. 17, and then each branch will be lit individually during the holiday itself at the end of December.
“I think there’s gonna be more people lighting the menorah this year than last. Last year, just a huge amount of people who had never lit before started lighting,”
Robin Lubin said. “I think they’re all gonna be lighting again, and even more people will be lighting this year – I hope.”
“Of course, the war is still going on in Israel, so it’s as if that Chanukah story is kind of existing right now, for many who feel like they maybe have to not display their Jewishness. So, I think just the whole idea of having a menorah that’s going to represent somebody who was so proud and was like a Maccabee. And she actually was awarded an Eternal Maccabee Award last year from JIFLA, and so it just … is a perfect representation of being proud, being willing to give your life for the Jewish nation, to protect all of us so that we can continue to be able to live our lives Jewishly, and to be Jewish in this world.”
If you wish to donate, you can do so at gaicares.org or by Venmo (@jeannieposner, write “Menorah” on the “What’s this for?” line).
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