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Eight nights, one festive holiday: Hanukkah in Philadelphia is all about community and spirit, with a bevy of events including menorah-lighting ceremonies, family-friendly celebrations, joyous concerts and adults-only parties taking place throughout the region (with plenty of latkes and jelly doughnuts for all).
This year, Hanukkah runs from nightfall on December 7 through December 15, 2023.
Celebrate the Festival of Lights in Greater Philadelphia with the 2023 Chanukah Parade in Center City, menorah lightings at iconic sites like the Betsy Ross House and Rittenhouse Square, family-friendly events at Sesame Place and Main Street Yardley, and programs at institutions like the Please Touch Museum and Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History.
Read on for the top Hanukkah celebrations for 2023 in Greater Philadelphia. Chag urim sameach!
One of the nation’s only parades celebrating Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas and Lunar New Year all at once, the Philadelphia Holiday Parade returns for its third year bigger and brighter than ever, with marching bands, festive floats, dance troupes, musical groups and more. Grab a spot along the parade route (including three designated cheer zones) as the multicultural extravaganza kicks off at 2nd Street and continues down Market Street all the way up to City Hall.
Where: Parade runs on Market Street from 2nd Street to City Hall
Gather ’round South Philly’s beloved Singing Fountain, the centerpiece of a busy stretch of East Passyunk Avenue, for the community Hanukkah Menorah Lighting celebration led by the South Philadelphia Shtiebel. Before and after the lighting ceremony, attendees can enjoy revelry, music, shopping along the avenue and other festive activities.
Where: The Singing Fountain, 1538 S. 11th Street
Bucks County’s Sesame Place celebrates the Festival of Lights over its first three full days with the annual Hanukkah Celebration & Menorah Lighting. The festivities begin each day at 4:30 p.m. with a menorah lighting followed by dreidel games and the retelling of the story of Hanukkah led by a local cantor and Baby Bear (one of the Muppets’ Jewish characters), his family and his fuzzy friends. The event takes place in the Sesame Street Neighborhood, with some limited first-come, first-served seating available. Free with regular park admission.
Where: Sesame Place, 100 Sesame Road, Langhorne
The 100,000-square-foot, five-story Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History brings the story of Jews in the U.S. to life with 1,200 artifacts and documents from Albert Einstein’s pipe to Irving Berlin’s piano to Steven Spielberg’s first camera. And as part of the institution’s Winter @ the Weitzman programming, the joyous Hanukkah Party & Concert celebrates a musical Festival of Lights featuring Brooklyn-based Klezmer sensation The Honorable Mentshn with clarinetist Michael Winograd and Berlin-based Yiddish singer Sasha Lurje. Bar opens at 6 p.m. with music at 7 p.m. (advanced tickets required).
Where: Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, 101 S. Independence Mall East
Philly celebrates the Festival of Lights during the 2023 Chanukah Parade in Center City. The free evening event features live music, decorated vehicles and a giant menorah lighting, and includes a festival at Independence National Historical Park with crafts, treats, a gelt drop, a fire juggler and more.
Where: Parade begins at 21st Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway and ends at 5th and Market Streets
Located inside Fairmount Park’s Memorial Hall (built for the 1876 Centennial), the wondrous Please Touch Museum (opened for the 1976 Bicentennial) offers a selection of holiday events this season, including kicking off the Festival of Lights with a Hanukkah Celebration featuring a performance of Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins and a Hanukkah sing-a-long.
Where: Please Touch Museum, 4231 Avenue of the Republic
It’s a holiday party in the ’burbs with the joyous Hanukkah Celebration with Bucks County Kehilla at Furlong’s Temple Judea. The festivities feature a menorah lighting, crafts, treat bags, doughnuts, raffles, and interactive singing and dancing to the sounds of song leader Michael Smolen.
Where: Temple Judea, 38 Rogers Road, Furlong
It’s a late afternoon of festivities at the community-wide Yardley Chanukah Village. Starting at 3 p.m., Main Street Yardley, Bucks County, transforms into a Hanukkah bazaar with crafts, games and activities, plus a handful of shops offering sidewalk and in-store sales. The party moves to Buttonwood Park at 4:15 p.m. for the lighting of the grand menorah with live music, giveaways, latkes, gelt and an illuminated LED “robot” (actually a human in an LED robot suit) to entertain the kids. The Chabad Lubavitch of Yardley-hosted event is free with RSVP (donation suggested). Event maps available at Buttonwood Park.
Where: Buttonwood Park, Yardley
Join the Old City Jewish Arts Center for a sunset Community Menorah Lighting & Hannukah Celebration at the historic Betsy Ross House, featuring lighting of the giant electric menorah. After the menorah is lit, attendees can snack on traditional Hanukkah foods like latke and doughnuts. Bonus: free take-home menorahs and Hanukkah gelt for all kids (while supplies last). After the celebration, head on over to Winter in Franklin Square to keep the fun going.
Where: Betsy Ross House, 239 Arch Street
West Philadelphia’s Kol Tzedek synagogue celebrates its 19th anniversary and the holiday’s fourth night at the annual Hanukkah Party, a hybrid event (in-person or virtual) featuring latkes and doughnuts, a candle lighting, a community sing-a-long, dancing with house band KT Simcha and a Hanukkah Week Great Jewish Bake-Off event (which you can enter!). This year’s affair marks the final one at the Calvary Center for Culture & Community as it moves to the new Kol Tzedek building in time for the party’s 20th year. Tickets are free (with suggested donation).
Where: Kol Tzedek, 707 S. 50th Street
Part of Holidays on South Street, the free Headhouse Festival of Lights & Menorah Lighting hits the South Street Headhouse District for a Hanukkah fourth-night menorah lighting under the 18th-century Headhouse Shambles structure at 2nd & Pine streets. Join fellow community friends along with leaders from B’nai Abraham, Kesher Israel Congregation and Society Hill Synagogue for light refreshments at 4:45 p.m. and the candle menorah lighting and short service at 5 p.m.
Where: Headhouse Shambles, 2nd & Pine streets
Honor the fifth night of the Festival of Lights with the 2023 Hannukah Celebration in gorgeous Rittenhouse Square with a menorah lighting at sunset followed by festive Hanukkah activities at one of Philly’s favorite neighborhood green spaces, hosted by Friends of Rittenhouse Square and B’Nai Abrahm Chabad.
Where: Rittenhouse Square, 18th & Walnut streets
Join The Chevra group, as well as with hundreds of young Jewish Philly professionals and grad students, for Festival of Light: Hanukkah 2023 — the city’s largest Hanukkah fest — at Chevra’s new venue in Rittenhouse Square. The party includes live music, cocktails, doughnuts, gelt, an ugly Hanukkah sweater contest and a menorah lighting. The event is open to single and couple professionals and grads in their 20s and 30s (21-plus only, tickets required). Sponsored by Chevra, Jewish Federation of Philadelphia, Hillel Jewish Graduate Student Network, Meor Philadelphia, Olami, Old City Theatre and Young Jewish Professionals Philadelphia.
Where: The Chevra, 2002 Ludlow Street
The Visit Philly Overnight Package — booked more than 190,000 times since 2001 — comes with free hotel parking (worth up to $100 in Center City Philadelphia), overnight hotel accommodations and choose-your-own-adventure perks.
The holiday season shines bright in Philadelphia...