Chanukah During World War II

Jews in the Westerbork transit camp in Holland light candles for the seventh night of Chanukah. Credit: Yad Vashem Photo Archive.

In the 1940s, American Jewish soldiers lit the Chanukah candles with Holocaust survivors, Tel Aviv was ordered to hide their menorahs, and the annual torch relay marathon took place starting from the graves of the Maccabees in Modiin. Hear about Chanukah during World War II, during the fight against the British Mandate’s White Paper, and finally culminating with the first Chanukah in the newly established State of Israel in 1948.

Maccabi Torch Race, 1945 from Modiin to Rehovot. Credit: Central Zionist Archives.

Maccabi Torch race, 1945. Credit: Central Zionist Archives.

Israel’s first President Chaim Weizmann at the Maccabi torch race. The menorah is made with citrus fruit grown by Israeli farmers.