Chocolate menorah for Hanukkah

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PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec. 21 (UPI) -- For a group of Hasidic Jews in Palo Alto, Calif., Hanukkah was to begin Sunday at sundown with a 6-foot menorah of melted chocolate.

"We've already made a menorah out of ice and Legos. Why not chocolate?" said Mushky Baumgarten of Chabad of Greater South Bay, who melted 25 bags of Kosher chocolate chips to coat the menorah.

The chocolate menorah was to be lit in front of Palo Alto City Hall as one of several Hanukkah-themed activities -- including bowling and ice skating -- sponsored by Chabad groups in San Jose, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Los Altos, Cupertino and Palo Alto, the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News reported Sunday.

Chabad, an international outreach group of Hasidic Jews, has more than 3,700 centers worldwide. The eight days of Hanukkah celebrates the victory of Judah and the Maccabees over invaders who defiled the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem more than 2,100 years ago.