by CBS News
Published: Sun, December 21, 2008 - 7:43 pm CST
Last Updated: Sun, December 21, 2008 - 8:03 pm CST
Sponsored by American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), The National Menorah was illuminated during a special ceremony on The Ellipse Sunday afternoon, the first night of Hanukkah. The National Menorah was lit by White House Chief of Staff (and Cabinet Member) Joshua B. Bolten, Director of American Friends of Lubavtich Rabbi Levi Shemtov and National Director of American Friends of Lubavtich Rabbi Abraham Shemtov. Special guests at this afternoon's ceremony include Rabbi Nachman and Frieda Holtzberg, the parents of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, the Chabad Rabbi who was killed, along with his wife, in the recent attacks in Mumbai.
The Ellipse has become the traditional place for this national event. Prominent dignitaries including The President, senior Administration officials, Members of Congress, ambassadors, diplomats and Jewish communal leaders have attended and participated in these celebrations since President Carter attended the first lighting of the National Menorah twenty-seven years ago in 1979. President Reagan dubbed the huge candelabra the “National Menorah.”
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