From left, Holocaust Survivor Joe Alexander, Rabbi Hertzel Illulian, Beverly Hills Mayor Lili Bosse, and Councilwoman Sharona Nazarian addressed the crowd at the Maybourne Hotel after lighting a candle for the first night of Hanukkah. (photo courtesy of JEM Community Center)

Beverly Hills Mayor Lili Bosse, Councilwoman Sharona Nazarian and Holocaust survivor Joe Alexander were some of the approximately 600 people who celebrated the first night of Hanukkah at the Maybourne Hotel in Beverly Hills on Dec. 18.

Hosted by the JEM Community Center, the event featured a 10-foot menorah, music, face painting, photo booths, fruit carts and traditional jelly-filled donuts.

The spirit of Hanukkah filled the venue during a speech by Rabbi Hertzel Illulian, who said that the light people carry inside of them can never be extinguished.

“On this night of Hanukkah, we should share the gift of love and embrace all ethnicities, culture and social differences,” Illulian said.

He praised Bosse, a child of holocaust survivors, for her selfless dedication and willingness to advocate for human rights.

Bosse, in turn, thanked Illulian for his dedication to the community.

“As Jews we are so proud, we will never ever give up. We will come together with light, miracles and love and Judaism will be forever and ever,” she said. Nazarian also addressed the crowd.

“It was such a miracle because the Hanukkah light was able to bring light during darkness. Right now, we are experiencing so much darkness like antisemitism and with what’s going on in Iran. We pray together that the miracle of Hanukkah will continue to spread the light and we as Jews standing today are a miracle and are a perfect reflection of what Hanukkah is,” she said.

Alexander, a survivor of 12 concentration camps who recently celebrated his 100th birthday, led the crowd during the prayer of Sh’ma Yisrael. After the prayer, he showed the attendees the number on his arm, and blessed the children.

“Throughout my most troublesome times in the camps I never gave up hope and never stopped trusting in god. Today may be a tough day but tomorrow we hope it will be a much better one,” Alexander said.

To close out the evening, gifts were distributed, and Hanukkah gelt was thrown into the air.