Lighting up Kharkov

All corners of Kharkov were lit up with public menorah lightings and Chanukah lights, in homes and public areas, with the young and the old.

Rabbi Moshe Moskovitz shared his enthusiasm at the Grand Menorah lighting,”this year there isn’t a home in Kharkov that doesn’t know what Chanukah is, and the miracle that the Jews are celebrating now. In a country where for years lighting a menorah was a far off dream…now in Kharkov we can light the menorah in the main street with pride. We are reliving the miracles that our ancestors witnessed thousands of years ago!”

The vice governor Anatoly Babichev was visibly impressed with the crowd at the shule lighting, and spoke of the resilience of the Jewish people throughout history and the miraculous victory of good over evil on Chanukah.

With a fire show at the public lighting on Pushkinskaya St in the largest shule in Ukraine, daily lighting  in the large menorah at the Barabashova bazaar, and a car menorah parade through the city and a grand lighting with dancing in the center at the Opera Theater on Sumskaya. With mivtzoyim and menorah lighting at the Daffy Mall and at the Platinum Plaza Mall, the lights of Chanukah shone brightly. Many Jewish businesses put large menorahs in the front of their factories and stores as well.

An unprecedented amount of homes this year were visited by students of Kollel Torah, Stars students, Cheder Menachem, Yeshiva and Machon girls. Lucky students of the Or Avner Day School won a surprise visit by their teachers, with doughnuts and presents, they to were able join the Chanukah spirit in all corners of the city.

Enerjew teenagers had an unforgettable Shabbaton over the Chanukah weekend, and also went to light menorahs in the homes of the elderly.They even celebrated one of the boys bar mitzvah and presented him with his own pair of tefillin!

Jewish inmates were thrilled to be able to light a menorah in the dark prison cells thanks to the Kharkov shluchim.

The eight days of Chanukah saw thousands of Jews at menorah lightings, hundreds of homes lit with the Chanukah flames and pride rekindled in the hearts of the Jews in Kharkov.