Following the national “launch” of Chanukah at the lighting ceremony of the National Menorah on the Ellipse, across from the White House – attended by thousands and viewed by tens of millions across the US on nearly 900 national and local TV news broadcasts – additional events were hosted in the political, international, academic and local communities of Washington, DC.
On Monday, hundreds of international financiers and prominent members of the diplomatic corps and international community attended “World of Light” celebrating Chanukah at the World Bank Headquarters.
Hon. Keiko Honda, CEO of MIGA – The World Bank, hosted and opened the program. She was followed by Hon. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and Hon. Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the Inter-American Development Bank. Following their remarks, they lit and passed the shamash candle (which represents the public servant) to Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Executive Vice President of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), co-host of the event, who then led all the assembled in a lighting of the beautiful silver menorah.
Afterward, guests, which also included senior US officials from the World Bank, Treasury Department and other agencies, partook in latkes and donuts and a wonderful Chanukah spread.
On Tuesday, the 25th annual Capitol Hill Chanukah Celebration took place in the Dirksen Hearing Room of the US Senate. Originally scheduled for the Mansfield Room, the celebration needed to be moved after the closure of the US Capitol following the death of former President George H.W. Bush, who was lying in state there.
A number of Members of Congress and Administration officials joined hundreds of staffers and leaders of national Jewish organizations for the event, which featured a joint lighting of the Menorah by Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Hon. Makan Delrahim, Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, himself a former Senate staffer and member of the Capitol Jewish Forum, the organization of Jewish staffers and Members of Congress which is a bipartisan, bicameral project of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad).
On Wednesday, the process of koshering the kitchen and utensils at the White House began, lasting a good number of hours, with a large crew diligently working to ensure the highest standard of kashruth at the White House Chanukah Party the following evening.
On Monday, a special ceremony was held in the Pentagon with senior Pentagon officials to mark the conclusion of Chanukah, following the directive of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of blessed memory, to ensure that the light of Chanukah be celebrated until the very last moments of the festival.
Numerous additional events were held at various locations around Washington, DC, offering the joy, light and inspiration of Chanukah to thousands of Jewish Washington, DC residents in a variety of local neighborhoods and offices, as well as students on the campuses of The George Washington, Georgetown, American and Gallaudet Universities.
Photos as marked: Shimi Kutner
yelchu mechayil el chayil
Beautiful!! Keep it up Rabbi Shemtov!