Hanukkah in Pictures: Keeping the Flame Alive

Hanukkah prayers commenced, the first candles were lit and the dreidels started spinning around sundown on Wednesday evening to commemorate the beginning of the Jewish festival of lights. The celebration will go on for eight nights as an affirming holiday observed wherever Jews make their home.

The holiday is deeply rooted in Jewish history, going back to 164 B.C.E. when a small militia of Jews called the Maccabees won a battle against the dominant Syrian-Greek military. After being driven out of parts of the land now called Israel, the Jews reclaimed the Second Temple in Jerusalem. It had been ransacked and there was only a tiny bit of oil to light the lamps. Miraculously, as tradition holds, the oil burned for eight days, a symbol to the Jews that they should continue their relationship with God while rebuilding their lives.

This year, Hanukkah began on the same night as Christmas. Many households celebrate both holidays, leading some to playfully refer to Wednesday as “Chrismukkah.” For the second year, the holiday also came at a difficult time as Israel remains at war.

During Hanukkah, Jews around the world light candles for eight consecutive nights. They pray, play games, sing, exchange gifts and spend time with family to commemorate the miracle that kept faith alive so many centuries ago.

Photographers captured the crowds that gathered for menorah lightings in Paris and New York. One image shows a moment when a soldier in Israel had a respite. Others depicted people rejoicing in their enduring faith.

Attendees shared a flame to light their candles for the first night of Hanukkah during a celebration in Miami Beach, Fla.

Students at Mesivta Lubavitch Miami sang and danced before the lighting of the menorah at an annual celebration in Miami Beach, Fla.

A young man was helped with his dress before the start of the National Menorah Lighting ceremony near the White House.

A crowd gathered in Paris before a large menorah was lit in an outdoor area.

A large menorah towered over the crowd leaving a lighting ceremony near the Ellipse, a park close to the White House.

Near Campus Martius Park in Detroit, a member of the Detroit Circus wore a dreidel hat and entertained a crowd at a menorah lighting.

A young boy handed a doughnut to an Israeli soldier near the Israel-Lebanon border on the first night of Hanukkah.

The first bulb was lit on the menorah that holds the Guinness record for the world’s largest, near Grand Army Plaza in Manhattan. An Israeli flag waved in the background.

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