U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host a Hanukkah reception at the White House Monday evening. There will be a menorah lighting and the menorah, created by the Whie House carpentry shop, will become the first Jewish artifact added to the White House archives.
Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish celebration also known as the Festival of Lights, began Sunday. It commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
The National Menorah of the United States was lit Sunday in Washington on The Ellipse.
In New York City Sunday, the world’s largest menorah was lit in Grand Army Plaza where Mayor Eric Adams reminded the crowd that New York is home to more Jews than any place else in the world, except Israel.
Jewish families around the world will light their home menorahs for each of the eight days of Hanukkah. This year Hanukkah ends the day after Christmas.
Even in the concentration camps during World War II, Jews found ways to observe Hanukkah. An ornate menorah carved by an inmate in the Theresienstadt camp was recovered after the war and is now in The Jewish Museum in New York.