Faust Rings in Fourth Night of Hannukah

University President Drew G. Faust celebrated the fourth day of Hanukkah Friday, lighting the center candle on the menorah in front of Widener Library.

Faust quoted the Hebrew inscription on the toy dreidel in her hand, saying “a great miracle has happened here.”

“It’s a moment for community and for joy—look at all these happy faces,” Faust said, referring to the students in the crowd. “Especially for students away from home for the first time, it’s a chance to celebrate with the Harvard community.”

Traditional gelt, or chocolate coins, dreidels, and small menorahs were distributed to the crowd of over 30 huddled near the stone steps of Widener. A sign in front of the menorah read, “Happy Chanukah from Harvard Friends of Chabad.”

“It’s a really great holiday that brings people together from different Jewish backgrounds, even if you’re not observant,” said Samantha J. Perry ’09, the student president of Harvard Chabad. Perry also emphasized that the event allowed non-Jewish people to learn more about the holiday.

The menorah lighting has become an annual event, with professors participating on each night. This year law professor Alan M. Dershowitz and Lawrence H. Summers, Harvard’s first Jewish president, have also participated in the lighting ceremony.

At the end of the lighting, the group broke out into a Hebrew song. And when a member of the crowd requested a song in English, the revelry continued with, “I had a little dreidel, I made it out of clay.”

Friday’s ceremony represents a significant shift from Harvard’s earlier years, when it limited the number of Jewish students admitted to the University.

In 1922, then-President A. Lawrence Lowell, Class of 1877, proposed to cap the number of Jewish students at Harvard—then 21 percent of the student body. In a letter published in the New York Times, Lowell—for whom the House is named—maintained that it would benefit the University and help reduce anti-Semitic sentiment.

When outright quotas raised objections, he changed the admissions criteria to include photographs of applicants as well as “an estimate of personal character.” Over the course of his tenure, the number of Jewish students declined to 10 percent.