Celebrating the holidays with light is a custom
common to people of faith. Many Presidents have participated
in lighting ceremonies marking Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish
Festival of Lights.
This year marks the first year a Hanukkah lamp (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.
"Tonight, for the first time in American history, the Hanukkah menorah will
be lit at the White House residence," said President George W. Bush at the
ceremony in which 8-year-old Talia Lefkowitz helps in lighting the menorah Dec. 10.
President Jimmy Carter walked to Lafayette
Park in 1979 and lit one candle or shammash (the candle used
to light other candles) in the 30-foot electric silver menorah.
President Ronald Reagan visited the Rockville
Jewish Community Center in 1983 and gave remarks following
the lighting of the menorah.
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 William 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.