World leaders light candles for Hanukkah
Polish, Georgian presidents take part in Hanukkah ceremonies in Warsaw and Tbilisi
A number of world leaders celebrated Hanukkah on Monday including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is visiting Israeland who was treated to a candle lighting ceremony at Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office.
In Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, thousands of Georgian Jews gathered at the grand synagogue to light candles with President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Blair lighting Hanukkah candles with Olmert in Jerusalem (Photo: AP)
The ceremony was broadcast live on national television as Saakashvili lit candles on a 10-ton Hanukkah lamp made from stones imported from Jerusalem.
Saakashvili said lighting candles for Hanukkah has been a tradition for Georgian presidents of every era and is deemed as an act of "solidarity with Jerusalem and the Jewish people," he said.
Hanukkah lighting ceremony in Georgia (Photo: AP)
Three decades ago the Jewish population in Georgia numbered 100,000, but most immigrated to Israel with the fall of the USSR and today there are some 12,000 Jews living in the former soviet country.
In Warsaw, Polish President Lech Kaczynski held a Hanukkah ceremony at his presidential palace for the first time. "It is a great honor for us, Polish Jews, to light Hanukkah candles here, at the Presidential Palace with the President," Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich said.
About 3.5 million Jews lived in Poland before the WWII, most of whom perished in the Holocaust. The population numbers 30,000 today.
President George W. Bush will light Hanukkah candles with Jewish leaders in the US in a customary ceremony at the White House.
