HAPPY CHANUKAH!!!
(Image courtesy of www.rotter.net)
Please note there are no updates today, and more pictures from last night will be uploaded as available (your humble servant cannot upload them easily from his current location).
TODAY’S BLOG:
A woman outside her home in the Jewish Quarter just after lighting her Chanukiah*. As is the custom in Jerusalem, residents of buildings stack their Chanukiot in glass cases for all to see; each glass case contains the Chanukiot of two to four families.
There was magic in the air.
Last night, your humble servant and his family decided to spend the last night of Chanukah in Jerusalem.
The narrow streets and alleyways were teeming with huge throngs of people from all over the world. Large groups from Ghana, Norway, Switzerland, China, Japan, Kenya, South Africa, Germany, England, and Brazil were excitedly into the Chanukah spirit. But no more so than the overwhelming numbers of Americans and Canadians who added their joy to the festivities.
And at the plaza in front of the Kotel, were hundreds of Israeli families waiting to see their sons and daughters in the IDF graduate from their basic training courses. With Chanukiot alit from every window in the plaza, and Israeli flags flying briskly in the air in every direction, it was a scene to behold.
And as the skies darkened (both because of the onset of night and an incoming storm) in advance of the lighting of the final candle, there was a palpable thrill in the air.
Today’s blog is simply a few photographs your humble servant made last night in different parts of Jerusalem.
The exuberant crowd out on Yaffa Street at the large Chabad Chanukiah. Note the Chabad rabbis in the crane holder as they are being lifted up to light the candles:
Another glass enclosed Chanukiah outside the door of a home in the Jewish Quarter:
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Burning oil in the Chanukiah high above the Plaza square in front of Kotel. Note the dark clouds coming in.
Another door in the Jewish Quarter:
Below is the Chanukiah in the Mamilla Mall just before lighting last night. Note that there is a small orchestra of “challenged” and disabled people providing wonderful music in the background:
Of course all of the restaurants and bakeries in the city were jammed:
And a final doorway to a building:
Light, light . . . everywhere was light! It was an unforgettable Chanukah!
*A Chanukiah contains places for 9 candles–a menorah contains only 7 candle holders.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.