On Sunday, Dec. 25, the B’nai B’rith World Center and the Israeli non-profit organization Bridge of Gold co-sponsored a festive menorah-lighting ceremony at the historic Hurva Synagogue in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City Jewish Quarter. The ceremony, marking the sixth day of the eight-day Chanukah holiday, can be viewed below.

The following video is in English:

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Of particular significance to this holiday—which marks the victory of the Maccabees over the Hellenists in 165 B.C.E. and the rededication of the Second Temple—the Jewish community of Salonika, Greece, nearly decimated by the Holocaust, participated in the ceremony. Via video-conferencing, Salonika residents lit an antique menorah along with the participants at the Hurva.

Israel Defense Force soldiers, B’nai B’rith members, government officials and invited guests also participated in the ceremony. Minister of Transportation and Road Safety Yisrael Katz represented the Israeli government at the event. Scenes from the Jewish struggle for Jerusalem from antiquity to modern times were showcased during the hour-long ceremony. The ceremony included performances by the Jerusalem Cantors Choir and the Israel Police Band Wind Quintet. 

All those who were were honored with a candle at the menorah-lighting ceremony on Sunday, Dec. 25

“This ceremony provides a rare opportunity for Israel and Diaspora communities to share a joyous festival together. The striking setting of the Hurva Synagogue, just yards from the Temple Mount, is a perfect setting for celebrating together the triumph of few against the many, of Jewish self-determination and freedom in antiquity and today,” B’nai B’rith World Center Director Alan Schneider said.

B’nai B’rith World Center Chairman Haim V. Katz addressed the ceremony.

Left to right: Bridge of Gold founding chairman Yehuda Zaretski, Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz, World Center Chairman Dr. Haim Katz and World Center Director Alan Schneider at the historic Hurva Synagogue.

The Hurva Synagogue was first inaugurated in 1864. Known also by its full name, The Beit Ya’akov Synagogue in the Courtyard of the Ruin of Rabbi Yehuda Hassid, it became the largest, most magnificent and most important synagogue in Israel and the center of life in the Jewish Quarter. Two days after the Jewish Quarter fell to Jordan’s Arab Legion in May 1948, the synagogue was dynamited along with 57 other synagogues and yeshivot (Jewish religious seminaries) that functioned in the Old City. After Israel conquered Jerusalem in 1967, a commemorative arch was erected at the site to mark the destruction, itself becoming a prominent landmark of the Jewish Quarter. The plan to rebuild the synagogue in its 19th-century style received approval by the Israeli Government in 2000, and the newly rebuilt synagogue was dedicated on March 15, 2010.