The first candle on the nine branched menorah has been lightened on the first day of Hanukah, at Nyugati square.
Slomó Köves, Chief Rabbi of the Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation (EMIH) in his speech has emphasized that the lights of Hanukah are putting in the forefront of the holiday not the 2100 year old war for freedom, but the miracle, showing how much in a small flame is. This holiday teaches us that fight in itself, even if it is just, is not enough for admiration. Admiration and miracle “require light”: for that value must be created.
In his welcome speech Deputy Mayor Balázs Szeneczey has drawn attention to the fact that in today’s world there a bigger and bigger need for light. The events of the recent period across Europe and the world mark that “we need handholds, and common faith is a handhold, which can fill us with hope, and carries the promise that if we keep our faith and keep together we will always be able to take on the evil”, added the deputy mayor.
During the eight day holiday the Jewish commemorate the retake of the Temple of Jerusalem and the purification. A Seleucid, Antiochus IV Epiphanes has captured Jerusalem in 168 BC, and had forbidden to practise Jewish religion. Jewish people had however rised up and in 165 BC, under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus took back the temple. The Hanukah commemorates the story, when the Jewish freedom fighters, who while cleaning up the sanctuary wanted to re-lighten the oil lamps of the menorah, for what they only found clean oil enough for one day. However, by the help of a divine miracle, the oil, which was enough only for one day, had burned for eight days.
