Last light

POIPU — When the flame touches the wick of the last candle on the menorah Sunday at the St. Regis Princeville Resort, it will be the last light in the world, said Rabbi Michoel Goldman.

“This is because Hawaii is in the last time zone,” Goldman said during the fourth night of Hanukkah at the Jewish celebration at The Shops at Kukuiula in Poipu.

There will be simultaneous lightings at different sites around Hawaii on the major islands of the Big Island, Maui, Oahu and Kauai because this is a special year of Jewish unity known as Hakhei, he said.

The lighting of the eighth candle on the menorah symbolizes an hour of unity, connecting Jewish communities on the four major Hawaiian Islands, and thousands more globally.

Kauai’s lighting is scheduled 5 p.m. at the St. Regis.

“With the recent shocking events of darkness occurring in Israel, Paris, and other places, it is time to quadruple the spreading of light,” said Goldman, who is with The Hawaii Jewry Unite, an international outreach organization.

“We are here to teach and inspire others during the final lighting of the menorah in the world,” Goldman said.

Helaine Perel, real estate manager at Kukuiula, said Wednesday’s ceremony was the third year The Shops at Kukuiula has observed Chanukah with a series of demonstrations and the lighting of the fourth candle on the menorah.

Hanukkah is the eight-day festival that starts on the eve of the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev and celebrates the triumph of light over darkness. As part of the Jewish holiday Chanukah, there is a nightly menorah candle lighting — a single flame on the first night, two on the second evening, until the eighth night when all eight lights are lit.