A 10-meter-high menorah was erected in front of the Brandenburg Gate on Friday.
The menorah was put up as a symbol of a miracle and a sign of a living Jewry in Germany. People can be seen dancing and helping decorate the menorah, which, according to the Rabbi of Berlin, is the largest in Europe.
“The message of the Hanukkah lights is ‘light over darkness’, ‘democracy over tyranny’ and despite the challenges, darkness and the evil we will answer with love and light! Every single human being is an ambassador of love and life, and that is the message of Hanukkah,” Yehuda Teichtal, Rabbi of Berlin, said.
According to the organizers, the lights will be lit at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 18. German government ministers are expected to join the event celebration of the festival.
Hanukkah is a Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and the subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century B.C.