Jews across the world celebrated the first night of Hanukkah on Saturday.

In Plainview, the Manetto Hill Jewish Center held a community menorah lighting to celebrate the holiday.

Rabbi Neal Schulman says Hanukkah symbolizes a time when people in Israel were being religiously oppressed.

"They couldn't fulfill their own religion in their own land. And the oppression was so bad, there was no other course but to fight back. They were able to acquire their own land back for themselves, and because of that, we have Judaism till this day," he says.