Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Hanukkah everyone!!

To put a bit of DC on this blog, I thought it would be interesting to post a bit about the ways recent Presidents have participated in Hanukkah and candle lighting ceremonies...

President Carter walked to Lafayette Park in 1979 and lit the shammash of the 30-foot electric silver menorah. Lafayette Park is just across the street from the North Portico of the White House.

The Synagogue Council of America gave President George H.W. Bush a menorah, which was displayed at the White House in 1989. President Bush participated in a Hanukkah celebration for staff in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in 1991 and also celebrated with children and local Jewish leaders.

President Reagan visited the Rockville Jewish Community Center in 1983 and gave remarks following the lighting of the menorah. Here he is receiving a menorah in the Oval Office from "Friends of Lubavitch" in 1986.

President Clinton lit a menorah in the Oval Office in 1997 and joined Israel's President Ezer Weizman in lighting the first candle of Hanukkah in Jerusalem in 1998. here he is speaking at a Menorah Lighting Ceremony.

2001 was the first year a menorah was lit in the White House residence. President and Mrs. Bush commemorated the holiday by participating with members of their staff and some of their children in lighting the second candle on December 10, 2001. The 100-year-old lamp was borrowed from the collection of the Jewish Museum in New York.