Menorahs Light Up Around The World For Hanukkah 2014

Menorahs Light Up Around The World For Hanukkah 2014

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, began at sundown on Dec. 16, 2014 and runs for eight days with menorah lightings and celebrations around the world.

Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C.E. during the Maccabean revolt against oppressive Greek rulers. Jews celebrate the holiday by lighting a nine-branch candelabrum, commonly called a menorah, and by giving gifts and playing a game with a spinning top called a "dreidel."

Take a look at these Hanukkah celebrations around the world:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Poland's chief rabbi Michael Schudrich, left, lights the first candle celebrating the beginning of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, on Grzybowski square in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The first flames of a a giant Hanukkah Menorah in front of a Christmas tree at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014 burn at the launch of the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights, named Hanukkah.
Carsten Koall via Getty Images
The first lamp of a large scale menorah lights in front of the Brandenburg Gate on December 16, 2014 in Berlin, Germany.
Carsten Koall via Getty Images
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere attends the ceremony to light the first lamp of a large scale menorah in front of the Brandenburg Gate on December 16, 2014 in Berlin, Germany.
Alex Quesada via Getty Images
STUTTGART, GERMANY - DECEMBER 16: Jews gather in front of the Neue Schloss for the lighting of the Menorah on the first night of Hannukah on December 16, 2014 in Stuttgart, Germany.
Alex Quesada via Getty Images
STUTTGART, GERMANY - DECEMBER 16: Jews gather in front of the Neue Schloss for the lighting of the Menorah on the first night of Hannukah on December 16, 2014 in Stuttgart, Germany.
DMITRY SEREBRYAKOV via Getty Images
Jewish men gather to mark the start of Judaism's festival of light, Hanukkah in central Moscow on December 16, 2014.
DMITRY SEREBRYAKOV via Getty Images
Jewish men gather to mark the start of Judaism's festival of light, Hanukkah in central Moscow on December 16, 2014.
PASCAL GUYOT via Getty Images
Mayor of the French city of Beziers Robert Ménard (L) lights the first of nine lights on the Hanukkah Menorah as president of the Beziers Jewish society Maurice Abitbol (R) looks on at the start of the Jewsh festival of Hanukkah at the city hall in Beziers on December 16, 2014.
The Washington Post via Getty Images
WASHINGTON, DC DECEMBER 15: Pre-schoolers look at the candles on the menorah, the day before Hanukkah starts, as Adas Israel Congregation's education director Rabbi Kerrith Rosenbaum talked about the tradition on December 15, 2014 in Washington, DC.
Chris McKay via Getty Images
CHICAGO, IL - DECEMBER 08: A menorah adds to the festive season at Daley Plaza's Christkindlmarket on December 08, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois.
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Vice President Joe Biden speaks after the national menorah was lit during a ceremony marking the start of the celebration of Hanukkah, on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
JERUSALEM - DECEMBER 16: The menorah of the Hanukkah, nine branched candelabrum is lighted in front of the Western Wall as the sun sets during the Jews' Hanukkah Feast after, in Jerusalem on December 16, 2014.
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
JERUSALEM - DECEMBER 16: Jewish men pray in front the holy Western Wall as the sun sets during the Jews' Hanukkah Feast after the menorah of the Hanukkah, nine branched candelabrum lighted, in Jerusalem on December 16, 2014.
Carsten Koall via Getty Images
The first lamp of a large scale menorah in front of the Brandenburg Gate lights after it was lights by Rabbis Yehuda Teichtal and German Interior Minist Lothar de Maiziere on December 16, 2014 in Berlin, Germany.
AHMAD GHARABLI via Getty Images
Jewish ultra-orthodox children of the Krois family light candles on the second night of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, in a religious neighborhood of Jerusalem, on December 17, 2014.
GIL COHEN MAGEN via Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) lights Hanukkah candles during a press conference at the Israeli Museum in Jerusalem, on December 17, 2014.
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President Barack Obama, right, and Dr. Adam Levine attend a Hanukkah reception Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014, in the Grand Foyer of the White House.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rebecca Bardach, with the Max Rayne Hand in Hand Bilingual School in Jerusalem, far left, watches as Inbar Vardi and Mouran Ibrahim, who are both students at the school, light candles for the second night of Hanukkah with first lady Michelle Obama, President Barack Obama, and Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014, during the first of two Hanukkah receptions in the Grand Foyer of the White House.

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