Russia's chief rabbi and the Moscow mayor kindled the lights of a giant menorah in the center of the capital on Sunday to mark Hanukkah.
Berl Lazar said they had doubted whether they should organize the holiday, also known as the Festival of Lights, after a series of deadly accidents that rocked the country, but decided that "we must be optimists and add light."
"We are celebrating Hanukkah today, but are also mourning in our hearts," the rabbi said adding they were praying for those who died and were injured in the nightclub fire in Perm and after the derailment of an express train en route to St. Petersburg.
Some 1,000 people gathered at Manezhnaya square near the Kremlin to celebrate the Jewish holiday, which commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 164 B.C. after its desecration by the Syrians.
The holiday is observed by kindling the lights of Menorah or Hanukiah, a special candelabrum with eight candleholders in a row.
Mayor Yury Luzhkov said the capital will always have respect for all traditional religions practiced in Russia.
MOSCOW, December 13 (RIA Novosti)
