Martinez celebrates its first menorah lighting ceremony

It wasn’t lost on Molly Cohen that Martinez’s first menorah lighting ceremony was happening both underneath the city’s public Christmas tree, and next to “Santa’s House,” a red cottage where Kris Kringle sits with kids for photos.

“It all helps build community, and people know there are Jewish people in Martinez,” said Cohen, one of about 120 people who turned out recently for this city’s first-ever menorah lighting observance on the Main Street Plaza downtown. “People think there aren’t Jewish people here.”