LA-Born Effort Asks People Of All Faiths To Light A Menorah In Support Of Jewish Neighbors

As Adam Kulbersh tells the story, it was around Thanksgiving when his 6-year-old son Jack asked when they could start putting up Hanukkah decorations, including a lighted menorah in the window.

It’s something Kulbersh and his son would typically do every year during Hanukkah, when a new candle is lit on the menorah each night of the Jewish holiday.

But this year, Kulbersh was worried about rising antisemitism tied to the Israel-Hamas war.

“For the first time in his life, for the first time in my life, I stopped and I thought, I don't know if it's safe right now to make a really public display of our Judaism,” said Kulbersh, an actor who lives in Studio City.

Kulbersh voiced his worries to an old friend who lives in Tampa, Jennifer Marshall, who is Catholic.

“It just made me sad,” Marshall said. “So I went online and I bought a menorah, and I told Adam to tell Jack that I was going to put a menorah up in my window for him.”

Marshall and her family took photos of the battery-operated menorah in their window and shared them on social media — and it took off from there.

From the responses she received, “it was just so obvious that there was such a need for people to have a way to be supportive of their Jewish friends,” Marshall said.

This inspired Kulbersh in L.A. to launch a website, which he dubbed Project Menorah. He enlisted the help of his sister, who is a publicist, to get the word out. The idea is simple, he said.

Adam Kulbersh, left, with his young son Jack.

“We're asking our friends and neighbors to put a menorah in their window to show solidarity, so that we can put our menorahs in our windows as an expression of our religious freedom,” Kulbersh said.

So far, Kulbersh said, he has learned of people participating in 46 states and several other countries.

“The vast majority of participants are posting with messages that say, I'm not Jewish, but I want to support a community that needs me,” he said.

Some have bought their own menorahs, while others have printed out pictures of menorahs from the website to display.

As for Kulbersh and his son, they’re now displaying their menorahs proudly.

“We went all in,” Kulbersh said. “I bought more, we have six or seven menorahs, just family menorahs, we lit all of them. It’s like a bonfire by our window. It is the most glorious sight.”