Prague, Dec 27 (CTK) – Lights on a nine-branched candelabrum were lit up to celebrate the eight-day Jewish holiday Hanukkah in the Prague centre Tuesday evening.
The participants in the ceremony paid respects to the victims of the latest terrorist attack in Berlin last week, which claimed 12 lives, including that of one Czech woman.
The event was staged by the Prague branch of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement for the 12th time.
Hanukkah or the Festival of Lights is a movable feast. This year, its beginning coincided with the Christian Christmas.
“The Hanukkah has a universal message. Even a little light is able to overcome a big darkness, a bit of love and kindness is able to change the world,” Rabbi Manis Barash, head of the Chabad Prague, said before the lights were lit up.
Along with Barash, the lights on the menorah were lit up by Culture Minister Daniel Herman (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) as well as representatives of the German and Israeli embassies.
Czech ambassador to Berlin Tomas Podivinsky brought three pieces of news to the meeting.
“The first is that it is worth fighting till the end. The Polish driver (of the lorry in which the Islamist drove into the crowd) saved many lives,” Podivinsky said.
“The second message is that Berlin residents were not scared. Now they are celebrating, going out and gathering,” he added.
“Third, they have put up the candlesticks like here in the parks. There were lots of them in Berlin,” Podivinsky said.
Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BC.
