Jews the world over, from diplomats to Holocaust survivors and even some first-time menorah candle lighters, are welcoming the Festival of Light — Hanukkah.
In the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, the local Jewish community is using the winter holiday as an opportunity to spread light and joy in times of strife as the city's residents face recurring power outages due to Russians forces pounding its electrical infrastructure.
Mykolaiv rabbi and Chabad emissary Shalom Gottlieb, along with members of the community, lit a menorah powered by a generator that was donated by the Jewish Relief Network Ukraine (JRNU).
"It's hard to say goodbye to the menorah," said Rabbi Gottlieb. "Usually, we have six power outages a day, and even more when there's shelling, but even in the hours of darkness, the cold and the frost, Jews continue to gather by the menorah in the city center."
Not far from the menorah, entire buildings can be seen lying in ruins, devastated by Russian shelling.
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A lit menorah in front of buildings damaged by Russian shellings in Kyiv
(Photo: Beit Menachem JCC)
"Hanukkah symbolizes the victory of the spirit, and the good guys not surrendering and overcoming an evil empire," says Rabbi Jonathan Markowitz, a Chabad emissary to the capital Kyiv. "We light the menorah to strengthen the Ukrainian nation and show that any place the Russians destroy, we will build and spread light."
Meanwhile, on Sunday, some 150 Holocaust survivors from Israel and around the world gathered at the Western Wall in Jerusalem for a special candle-lighting ceremony which was sealed with the national anthem Hatikvah.
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Benny Gantz at the Western Wall ceremony, with Holocaust survivors
(The Western Wall Heritage Foundation)
Similar ceremonies honoring Holocaust survivors took place in New York and Berlin as well.
Back in the Middle East, Qatar replaced its World Cup festivities with Hanukkah spirit.
The staff of the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs lit a candle on the third night of the eight-night holiday at the U.S. Embassy in Doha. The ceremony, led by U.S. Ambassador Timmy T. Davis, was attended by foreign diplomats, members of the local Jewish community and Chabad emissaries.
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Qatari Foreign Ministry staff lit a candle on the third night of Hanukkah at the U.S. Embassy in Doha
Davis shared that he learned of the holiday's significance through his Jewish friends during his service with the U.S. Marines, and said that he was thrilled to conduct the ceremony with the Israeli team in attendance.
Meanwhile, at another diplomatic event in Tel Aviv, 50 foreign ambassadors and consulates learned to sing the Hanukkah jingle Ma-O-Tzur in Hebrew. Each diplomat got a copy of the lyrics in Hebrew and English, and sang together after lighting the candles.
50 foreign ambassadors and consulates learned to sing Ma-O-Tzur in Hebrew
The Manufacturers Association of Israel hosted the ceremony — the first of its kind since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic — and was attended by diplomats from places like Morocco, Albania, Angola, Bosnia, Brazil, and many more.
Surprisingly, a towering menorah was also placed at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria.
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A menorah placed at the main hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria
The heart-warming gesture came about after Rabbi Mendy Sternbach of the Chabad center in the Nigerian Capital and his wife Mazal met with the airport's Chief of Security Mamman Mohammed Sadiku, who after attending the first Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony, asked the rabbi to move the menorah to the airport's main hall and scatter more menorahs around the airfield, which is used by hundreds of Jews and Israelis every month