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- War in Ukraine
- Zelensky lights menorah with rabbis in bunker amid threat of Russian attack
Zelensky lights menorah with rabbis in bunker amid threat of Russian attack
Preparations were made while remaining vigilant with respect to security concerns
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensk joined Chabad emissaries and rabbis to light the menorah on Wednesday in the presidential bunker.
Organized by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine (FJCU), preparations were made while remaining vigilant with respect to security concerns.
The ceremony came as Russia launched hundreds of missiles and drones at energy infrastructure throughout the country. Participation was limited over fears of safety amid the attack.
Zelensky lit a menorah given to his by Argentine President Javier Milei during his inauguration, with the ceremony led by Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki, Chabad emissary and Dnipro's chief rabbi.
Kaminezki voiced his support for Zelensky's leadership during the war. "We hope these Hanukkah lights will symbolize our victory," he said.
"Nearly three years into this war, despite today's terrorist attacks on civilians, we're prevailing against all odds – the few against the many, the supposedly weak against what was considered one of the world's strongest armies, the pure against the impure," Zelensky told the rabbis. "We will triumph because there is no alternative. I'm proud of you, our country's rabbis, for staying with us despite this brutal war when you could have fled."
In other locations across the country, Jewish-Ukrainian soldiers who were wounded fighting in the war lit candles as the holiday began, organized also by FCJU.
"Hanukkah is a festival of light and miracles," said Rabbi Mayer Stambler, FCJU chairman. "I'm certain miracles will occur both in the Holy Land and here. We pray for Moshiach's arrival, which will bring the complete victory of good and light over darkness and evil."
"We are in the final moments of exile," he noted, "and we hope that from the redemption of Hanukkah we will transition to the complete redemption, when 'nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.'"
Rabbi Stambler and his deputy, Rabbi Raphael Rutman, presented Zelensky with a menorah hand-crafted in Jerusalem that features an illustration of the Temple and 24 karat gold.
Zelensky beamed when receiving his gift, and said he would place it on display in his office.
Some of the participants in the ceremony included rabbies from the most heavily bombarded regions, such as Rabbi Moskowitz of Kharkiv, Rabbi Levitansky of Sumy near the border, and Rabbi Yosef Wolf of Kherson – which has come under some of the most intense shelling recently.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko joined 15 Chabad emissaries in lighting Ukraine's largest menorah, in Maidan Square.