‘This is a menorah that tells the story of the victory of light over darkness in our time,’ said the Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Chabad emissary, Rabbi Yonatan Markovich.
About 500 members of the Jewish community in Kiev gathered last night to light the first candle of Hanukkah together with the head of the Ukrainian Military Intelligence and special advisor to President Zelensky, Kyrylo Budanov.
The menorah, designed by a local artist, incorporates metal parts from the drone that attacked the school.
Its base is decorated with interlocking human figures symbolizing unity, and the candles are placed in defused shell casings of the Ukrainian army.
Last October, just hours before the start of the school day, a Russian drone struck the Jewish school. The impact caused significant damage to the building, but miraculously there were no injuries among the school’s students and staff.
Following the incident, the community expanded its humanitarian activities and added psychological support to its members.
“This is a menorah that tells the story of the victory of light over darkness in our time,” said the Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Chabad emissary, Rabbi Yonatan Markovich.
“From those fragments of destruction, we created a source of light that will illuminate our schoolyard. This menorah is living proof that the light of Jewish education in Kiev will not go out, and that out of the darkness a greater light will always shine.”