Frontline Hero To Be Honored At Brooklyn Menorah Lighting

BROOKLYN, NY — A frontline worker will get the chance to light "Brooklyn's Largest Menorah" this week.

Dr. Bushra Mina, the chief of pulmonary medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, will be honored on Tuesday at the Grand Army Plaza ceremony for the sixth night of Hanukkah, according to hospital officials.

The special, socially-distanced lighting comes after the Chabad of Park Slope, which runs the event, kicked off this season's menorah lighting last week.

Mina was chosen by the Chabad to be honored as a frontline hero. He has cared for hundreds of COVID-19 patients throughout the pandemic, according to hospital.

"As the United States has been under the cloak of COVID-19’s darkness for months, Dr. Mina is looking forward to lighting the menorah on the sixth night of Hanukkah as the light at the end of the tunnel has become visible with the first vaccines being distributed this week," hospital officials said in a release.

The lighting will come the day after a New York City nurse became the first in the state to receive a dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

Mina joins a long list of special guests that have been invited to light candles on the menorah, including Mayor Bill de Blasio and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer .

The "candles" are made of kerosene lanterns with specially designed glass chimneys to protect the lights from the elements. They are lit using a 60-foot boom lift.

Here are details about the event:

WHEN: Tuesday, Dec. 15 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

WHERE: Grand Army Plaza, Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn

WHO: Bushra Mina, MD, Chief, Pulmonary Medicine, Lenox Hill Hospital