80 years after Kristallnacht, German president lights massive Hanukkah menorah

Times of Israel ^ | Dec 3, 2018 | Toby Axelrod

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Eighty years after Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass,” in which Nazis terrorized Jews throughout Germany and Austria, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was lifted in a cherry picker crane alongside Berlin community Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal to kindle what is billed as the Europe’s largest Hanukkah menorah, located at the iconic Brandenburg Gate.

Thanks to a misty rain, the first night of Hanukkah was especially sparkly in Berlin this year. Raindrops settled upon several hundred onlookers gathered for the 15th annual candle-lighting ceremony, refracting the lights of Berlin’s giant Christmas tree and the illuminated 18th-century monument, just east of where the Berlin wall once loomed.

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Moshe was one of several pupils who took the stage Sunday to explain the Jewish holiday to anyone who might not be familiar with it. And that would be many, in this mostly Protestant city of about 4 million.

Noting that there are more than 50 Muslim countries in the world, he quipped: “How long will it be before they all have Hanukkah menorahs like this? I suggest we will all live to see it.”

From a followup article:

A group of Syrian refugee children — along with other Muslim groups in Berlin — joined with Jewish groups for a public Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony in the German capital.

On Sunday, the Syrian children joined with local Jewish kids to light the giant Chabad menorah at the Brandenburg Gate. Aiman Mazyek, head of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, and representatives of Berlin mosques attended the ceremony.

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Don’t they realize their new moslem overlords hate jews much more than Hitler ever did. Only people who hate jews more are leftist college students

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I praise God that Hitler was defeated, and I praise God that more and more Europeans have been awakening to the threats from within...and cherishing Western civilization again.

However credit where credit is due: it was a nice gesture that some Syrian children and Muslim groups also came to the lighting ceremony. Missionaries and churches in Germany have testified to the reality that numerous refugees have converted to Christianity during their stay in the country — and many hope to return to their homeland eventually.