The Jewish holiday Hanukkah happened to fall on Christmas Eve in 1978, and several members of the Springfield Jewish community were helping their Christian neighbors by volunteering to work for them at Cox Hospital over the Christmas holiday.
Members of the Lotven family observing the first day of Hanukkah in 1978. On the left, Howard Lotven lights a candle on a menorah using the shamash or “helper” candle. On the right, Howard’s uncle Hyman Lotven holds Howard’s nephew, Joshua.
Cox Hospital’s volunteer program began a few years earlier when the hospital staff read about a similar project in Kansas City hospitals. One volunteer noted that the reason she did not mind working Christmas Eve was the nature of Hanukkah and that there would still be a full week to celebrate. Howard Lotven (left), accompanied by his uncle Hyman Lotven and his nephew Joshua, demonstrated the Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony in a photo that appeared with the story.
This image is part of a much larger collection of historically rich photographs from the News-Leader’s photo archive. Each week, the Springfield-Greene County Library will tap into this vast collection and present an interesting image “from the darkroom” and share its history. This image is presented in partnership between the Springfield-Greene County Library District and the Springfield News-Leader. For more historical images of the Ozarks, visit: thelibrary.org/fromthedarkroom.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: From the Darkroom: 1978 photo captured Hanukkah in the Ozarks