PLEASE NOTE: This event has already occurred.
Date/Time
Date(s) - 12/14/2025
4:00 pm
Location
Champaign Public Library
Categories
Central Illinois’s brand new Reconstructing Judaism congregation, Nevei Kodesh, is holding its first public event on December 14 at the Champaign Public Library: A Celebration of Hanukkah: Lights and Latkes.
The event is set to begin at 4 p.m. at the main library, 200 West Green Street, Champaign, with an electronic candle lighting for the first evening of the festival.
Jewish treats, from latkes to rugelah, and grape juice will be served. The event is free and open to all families — whether you are Reconstructionist, Renewal, Reform, Humanist, or Orthodox, or Interfaith.
Nevei Kodesh Congregation President and Gabbai Gene Koprowski will lead a performance/staged reading, in NYC’s Lab/Shul style, a “Storahtelling” of the history of Hanukkah from First Maccabees, 1-4 and Second Maccabees 10, and the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 21b, which features the story of the miraculous flask of oil that kept the temple’s candles burning, the central, beloved origin story of Hanukkah. Other actors will take various roles in the reading. Koprowski has an MA from the University of Chicago, where he studied the history of religions.
“Everyone is welcome to our celebration,” said Koprowski. “We’ve been meeting at home here in Central Illinois, and working with a an esteemed, learned rabbi at Reconstructing Judaism headquarters in the Philadelphia area, for months setting up our first, public event to get everything just right.”
Learn more about the Reconstructing Judaism movement here.
Please remember that events may be canceled or rescheduled last minute due to unpredictable weather or other factors. We encourage you to reach out to event organizers before heading out to an event to verify it is still happening.
