Twinkling lights, menorahs and tables piled high with latkes and sufganiyot gave the glow of a classic Hanukkah celebration for the 130 people who gathered in Manhattan’s Moise Safra Center on Tuesday night. But two details set this gathering apart: it was held a full two weeks before the first night of the festival of lights, and most of the attendees were cancer patients and their families.

Hosted by the nonprofit Toys for Hospitalized Children, the “pre-Hanukkah Wonderland” was designed to deliver a dose of seasonal joy to the group of 12 patients and their families — many of them Israelis temporarily living in New York while undergoing treatment at nearby Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and other local hospitals. 

“The goal is just that the kids and their families should have a lot of fun. It’s sick children, their siblings. Some of them, the kids are healthy, but the parents are sick, and the parents came here for treatment,” Rabbi JJ Hecht, the nonprofit’s president, told eJewishPhilanthropy. “We’re just here to make them happy, make them have a good time.”

According to Hecht, while it’s the second year the organization has hosted the Hanukkah celebration, sponsored by New York-based philanthropist Michelle Domb, Toys for Hospitalized Children’s history goes back much farther. 

Started as a Hanukkah project in 1953, the organization was officially incorporated in 2019 and has had a busy few years since. Earlier this year, the organization built a playroom in central Israel’s Schneider hospital in memory of the Bibas children, the Israeli hostages who were killed in Hamas captivity after being kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023. That playroom — co-sponsored by Domb — was the organization’s third in Israel. In January, the organization will be opening a playground and mental health facility for children, Hecht, told eJP. 

“When children play, they are very in the moment. They’re only focusing on playing. They’re not thinking about anything else,” said Hecht. “Adults, if you have a problem, you could be enjoying dinner, but you’re still thinking about your problem. A child, if they’re enjoying dinner, they’re only enjoying dinner, right? So the goal is to take them away from the scary, sad [post-traumatic stress disorder] of being sick, and bring them to the mindset of playing and having fun.”

Some of the families attending Tuesday’s event have been in the states for several years, with their loved ones in and out of treatment. It is Yifat Isergan’s third year in New York, as her daughter, Maya, undergoes treatment. 

“She was waiting for this party with all her people, with all her family. It’s great for her, because treatments and hospitals, it’s not easy. But she’s happy. She’s happy, I’m happy,” Isergan told eJP. “The situation is difficult. So thank God for this. We need this. It’s like family. This is like my family.”

Between the “make a furry friend” station, balloon art and a magic show with a live dove, there was a lot to keep the children occupied. The event also featured a traditional menorah lighting ceremony, during which each candle was lit by a different patient, followed by a dance party. Maya ended the night dancing.