Oliver Bradley

Thousands of people throughout Germany welcomed the first night of Chanukah Tuesday, with an estimated 900 celebrants turning out for the evening’s biggest menorah lighting at the Brandenburg Gate.

Jews throughout Germany are getting ready to light their menorahs for the upcoming Chanukah holiday, spreading light in a land that a mere two generations ago was the ultimate symbol of fear and darkness.

Israeli Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, joined by rabbis from across Germany, Israel and the United States, presided over the ordination of the latest class of rabbis to graduate in Berli

Monday night marked the first-ever Chanukah menorah lighting in the Sejm, Poland’s parliament. Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Shalom Stambler assisted Vice President Jaroslaw Kalinowski in lighting the candelabra.

One year into his new posting, Moroccan-born Rabbi Gavriel Sebag is one of 33 Jewish chaplains overseeing the spiritual wellbeing of France’s Jewish soldiers and officers.

Thousands turned out for the grand opening of the new headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch of Berlin, which was pronounced by politicians and religious figures as key to the revival of German Jewish life.

Once greeted by Jewish communal leaders with suspicion, the Chabad House in Berlin has grown beyond expectations and now counts former detractors as its partners.