At a Moscow Hillel event yesterday, students aimed to set a new Guinness record for simultaneous candle lighting: 365 people simultaneously lighting 1,460 candles. This from Russia Today:
Not to be left out, the Chinese state news agency also had a Chanukah feature. Here’s more, including photos of Chanukah celebrations in Moscow and Warsaw.
15 years ago, when the JDC and International Hillel opened up the first Hillel in the Former Soviet Union, in Moscow, no one could have imagined then that a Jewish student celebration would be featured in the international English-language television network of the Russian Federation. It indicates a level of normalicy and acceptance of once-forbidden Jewish community behaviour and norms that defies imagination–truly a Nes Channuka/Channuka Miracle!
Rabbi Jonathan Porath and Rabbi Yossi Goldman,
Co-founders of Hillel in the Former Soviet Union