Students to construct The World's Largest Lego Menorah
December 17, 2003 by Howard Blas
ORANGE — Nearly every Jewish home has a shelf or a box-in-storage full of Chanukah menorahs. And each family member surely has his or her favorite one. Maybe it’s the Noah’s Ark chanukiah given by a family member when we were born; or, perhaps it’s the silver one presented by the sisterhood president at our bar or bat mitzvah.
When Chanukah is over, we pack the menorahs up. But “packing up” seldom means taking apart all 15,000 pieces of the menorah — unless it is a Chanukah Menorah made from Lego blocks.
New Jersey architect Stephen Schwartz and his Legos came to Chabad of Westport last Sunday and will be coming to the New Haven Hebrew Day School in Orange on Monday, Dec. 22. Schwartz will spend several hours with the day school students, helping them work in teams as they construct what he calls “The World’s Largest Lego Menorah.”
Schwartz “carefully orchestrates the entire construction so that at the end of the two hours there is a
totally-built model.” In the end, notes Schwartz, “everyone is absolutely in awe that they were able to accomplish so much in such a short period of time by working together as a team.”
The New Haven Hebrew Day School students will nearly complete a 12-foot, 15,000 piece Lego menorah during the school day. They will then be joined at 6pm by family, community members and elected officials including Mitch Goldblatt, First Selectman of Orange, as they put the finishing touches on the giant menorah. When the candles of the Lego chanukiah are actually lit at 7pm, everyone will admire a Lego Tower which Schwartz observes will “resemble a whimsical skyscraper, topped off with a
five-foot wide Lego chanukiyot.”
Schwartz reports that he has already spent nearly 60 hours working on the top, in anticipation of his Chabad Chanukah construction.
Following the lighting of the menorah, Chabad Lubavitch of Orange/ Woodbridge invites everyone to share in the celebration of Chanukah with donuts and music provided by Liverpool Productions.
“Every year at Chanukah, and at every holiday, Chabad of Orange/Woodbridge does something exciting. It is always joyous — so many people come to share together,” reports Bluma Hecht, project coordinator of the communal menorah lighting.
“Two years ago, we had a
five-foot ice sculpture. Last year, we had a huge solid chocolate menorah. And this year, we will have this wonderful Lego menorah,” stated Hecht.
How does an architect working on four real synagogues get involved in building larger than life models of menorahs? He began by working in the classroom of his daughter, a
third-grade teacher, who had asked him to do a lesson on urban planning. Schwartz assigned each child or group of children different parts of a city to builda fire house, a police station, a school, a train station, a school. And he challenged them to figure out how to arrange each object. The students then learned about commercial and residential zoning.
When his synagogue heard about his school workshops, they asked him to do something in a Jewish context. In response, Schwartz created a
20-foot by
20-foot model of Jerusalem four years ago. He has since “built Jerusalem” more than 25 times. The Jerusalem Lego model features all eight walls, the
Kotel, King David’s Tower and various other elements of the Old City of Jerusalem.
Schwartz has also built large models of Masada, the Warsaw Ghetto and the Beit Hamikdash (the Temple in Jerusalem). They are all part of his Jewish History Lego Construction Series, projects which Schwartz feels are ideal for third through sixth graders and their parents.
Schwartz will transport five large bins of Legos in his car and spend a fun, educational day with the New Haven Hebrew Day School community. He admits that air travel is a little trickier, though doablehe is scheduled for a “Lego Marathon Weekend” at Congregation Share Zedek in St. Louis, in May.
When the program in Orange is over, Schwartz will invite four or five children and parents to systematically disassemble and put away all 15,000 pieces. The entire school group won’t help to clean up, Schwartz laughed, because from experience, he knows just how “revved up” kids get during the disassembling of the project.
For more information on the New Haven Hebrew Day School event Monday, Dec. 22, call Bluma Hecht at (203) 795-5261.
For more information on Stephen Schwartz’s work, call (973) 994-9797.