Festival Of Lights

Rabbis Samuel Segal, left, and Jehuda Teichtal of the Jews of Berlin's Jewish Education Center build a candleholder "Menorah" next to the city's landmark Brandenburg Gate, Friday, Dec. 15, 2006. The traditional Jewish Hanukkah festival of lights starts Friday and will last for eight days.

Little Rock, Ark.

Rabbi Pinchus Ciment, with Lubavitch of Arkansas, lights a giant Menorah, Friday, Dec. 15, 2006 to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, in Little Rock, Ark.

Concord, N.H.

Rabbi Levi Krinsky gets ready to light the Menorah in front of the State House in Concord, N.H., Friday, Dec. 15, 2006 to start Hanukkah, the eight-day festival of lights.

Rabbi Levi Krinsky lights the Menorah in front of the State house in Concord, N.H., Friday, Dec. 15, 2006 to start the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah.

New York

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer hold a candle as they light the menorah during the first night of Hanukkah at Congregation Emanu-El Friday, Dec. 15, 2006 in New York. The Hanukkah celebration also marked the re-dedication of the sanctuary after a two year, $25 million restoration.

Las Cruces, N.M.

Ezekiel Swartz, 5, tells the story of Hanukkah prior to the start of the eight-day Jewish festival at Temple Beth El in Las Cruces, N.M., on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2006.

University City, Mo.

Rabbi Yosef Landa ascends a ladder in order to light the first lantern of Missouri's tallest Hanukkah menorah on Friday, Dec. 15, 2006, outside the Chabad of Greater St. Louis in University City, Mo. The lighting signifies the first day of the eight-day Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

Moscow

People celebrate the start of Hanukkah in front of the Kremlin in moscow, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2006. The sign in Russian reads: "Hanukkah." Dozens of people huddled together to watch the lighting of a menorah, beginning an eight-day commemoration of the Jewish uprising in the second century B.C. against the Greek-Syrian kingdom, which had tried to put statues of Greek gods in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

Bucharest, Romania

An elderly Jew attends Hanukkah celebration at the 148-year-old Coral Temple in Bucharest, Romania Saturday Dec. 16 2006. According to historic studies, of the 760,000 Jews who once lived in Romanian-controlled territories some 420,000 were killed during World War II, and today, only about 6,000 Jews live in Romania.

Bet El, Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gestures while lighting Hanukkah candles to celebrate the holiday Sunday, Dec. 17, 2006 on an Israeli army base near the Jewish settlement of Bet El, outside of Ramallah, West Bank.

Washington

Festive Glow — GETTY IMAGES/Chip Somodevilla

With the sun setting behind it, the National Menorah is seen through a fence on the Ellipse Monday, Dec. 18, 2006 in Washington.

President Bush and first lady Laura Bush take part in a Menorah lighting during a Hanukkah celebration at the White House in Washington, Monday, Dec. 18, 2006.

Jerusalem

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men light the candles for the fifth night of Hanukah, in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2006. The holiday commemorates the rededication of the holy temple in Jerusalem after the Jews' 165 B.C. victory over the Hellenist Syrians when Antiochus, the Greek King of Syria, outlawed Jewish rituals and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods.

Trenton, N.J.

New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine, right, wearing a personalized yarmulke, listens to Rabbi Moshe Herson speak during a Hanukkah Celebration at the State House in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2006.