Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensk joined Chabad emissaries and rabbis on Wednesday to light the menorah in the presidential bunker.
Organized by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine (FJCU), preparations were made while remaining vigilant regarding security concerns.
The ceremony took place as Russia launched hundreds of missiles and drones at energy infrastructure across the country. Participation was limited due to safety fears during the attack.
Zelensky lit a menorah given to him by Argentine President Javier Milei during his inauguration, while the ceremony was led by Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki, Chabad envoy and the Chief Rabbi of Dnipro.
Kaminezki expressed support for Zelensky’s leadership during the war. “We hope these Hanukkah lights will symbolize our victory,” he said.
“Nearly three years into this war, despite today’s terrorist attacks on civilians, we are prevailing against all odds – the few against the many, the so-called weak against what was considered one of the strongest armies in the world, the pure against the impure.” Zelensky told the rabbis. “We will prevail because there is no alternative. I am proud of you, the rabbis of our country, for remaining with us despite this brutal war, when you could have fled.”
In other locations around the country, Jewish Ukrainian soldiers wounded during the war lit candles as the holiday began, also organized by FCJU.
“Hanukkah is a festival of light and miracles,” said Rabbi Mayer Stambler, president of the FCJU. ‘I am sure that miracles will take place in the Holy Land as well as here. We pray for the coming of the Messiah, who will bring the complete victory of good and light over darkness and evil.”
“We are in the last moments of exile,” he noted, “and we hope that we will pass from the redemption of Hanukkah to full redemption, when ‘the nation shall not lift up a sword against the nation, neither shall they learn more about war. ”
Rabbi Stambler and his deputy, Rabbi Raphael Rutman, presented Zelensky with a menorah, handmade in Jerusalem, with an illustration of the temple and 24-karat gold.
Zelensky beamed as he accepted his gift and said he would display it in his office.
Participants in the ceremony included rabbis from the most heavily bombed regions, such as Rabbi Moskowitz of Kharkov, Rabbi Levitansky of Sumy near the border, and Rabbi Yosef Wolf of Kherson – which recently came under the most intense shelling.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko joined 15 Chabad emissaries in lighting Ukraine’s largest menorah on Maidan Square.