Largest Pirsumei Nisa of 5774

Thousands of tickets were distributed to people from all walks of life for this year’s lighting ceremony of the National Menorah on the Ellipse across from the White House on Wednesday, Nov. 27.

While organizers fretted over the inclement weather, the freezing rain stopped just moments before the ceremony began and indeed most ticket holders, including many VIPs, braved the elements to participate in this celebration of the Chanukah miracle, perhaps the most prominent such celebration in the world.

In addition to a special message from The President, delivered to organizers as the event was starting – and in which he referred to the story of Chanukah as when the Maccabees “reclaimed their historic homeland” and “the Jewish Temple was cleansed and consecrated” over 2200 years ago, significant words in these days – a Jewish member of his Cabinet, US Trade Representative (Amb.) Mark Froman attended and delivered greetings on behalf of The President and the First Lady, The Vice President and Dr. Biden and the Administration.

The event was chaired by Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Executive Vice President of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) which sponsors the National Menorah Council, organizers of the National Menorah. Guests enjoyed a special performance by The US Air Force Band and The Three Cantors, coordinated by Musical Director Jeff Nadel.

Cantors included Benny Rogosnitzky of The Park East Synagogue, Shimmy Miller of the Young Israel of Margate, and Schneur Zalman Baumgarten of the Moscow Marina Roscha Synagogue. Grammy Award winning violinist Miri Ben-Ari played a special rendition of Maoz Tzur, and Perel Leah Kimelman, a 6th grader at the Esformes Cheder Lubavitch Girls School in Chicago read her winning essay of the Rabbi Mendy Deren Memorial National Menorah Essay Contest.

Spotted among the dignitaries were many White House Officials, Congressional figures and diplomats, including of course, Israel’s new ambassador to the US, HE Ron Dermer. Many Jewish communal leaders were also in attendance.

The program included a Chanukah Message from the Chairman of the Executive of the international Chabad Lubavitch Movement, Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, who actually established the project of public menorahs 39 years ago and had the National Menorah built several years later, hosting then President Jimmy Carter at its initial lighting ceremony.

Thousands of hot latkes and donuts were served after the conclusion of the ceremony, with Dreidelman (a cartoon like character) and “Maccabees” distributing complimentary menorah kits.

Early indications from independent media monitoring services are that the event was viewed by over 69 million of people on some 1,787 newscasts across the country as of Thursday night – national and local – including all the major networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN, C-SPAN, some of whom even carried parts of the event live on the evening news.

– See more at: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/general/203586/photos-video-national-menorah-lighting-ceremony-on-the-white-house-ellipse-reaches-millions.html#sthash.QdIovSzL.dpuf

VIDEO: Recap of the live broadcast on COLlive

For photos of the event – click here