Chanukah | Local

Menorah sculpture will light up Tucson nights

Tucsonan Danny Levkowitz finished his steel menorah in time to celebrate Chanukah 2015.

Tucsonan Danny Levkowitz recently finished building this 15-foot tall menorah, his first attempt at sculpture, at his east side home.

Made of steel rebar with LED lights, the menorah took over two months to create, but it is something Levkowitz, the owner of Sun Lighting, has been dreaming about building for years.

The LED lights are on individual switches so the appropriate number of “candles” can be lit each night of Chanukah. Levkowitz also equipped the menorah with oil lamps — steel cups at the top of each saguaro arm, which can be filled with oil and cotton and lit. He and his wife, Anita, invite the Tucson community to join them at 3955 N. Tanuri Drive, to celebrate the kindling of the menorah. Rabbi Robert Eisen of Congregation Anshei Israel will be present on Monday, Dec. 7, and Rabbi Yossie Shemtov of Chabad Tucson is expected to join them on Thursday, Dec. 10.

Since it takes a very tall ladder to refill the steel cups, Levkowitz explains that he may not light the oil lamps on nights when no crowd is gathered. But even with just the LED lights, this menorah will certainly fulfill the mitzvah of publicizing the holiday.