Jews around Ukraine are coming out en masse at shopping malls, community centers and synagogues to celebrate Chanukah throughout war-torn Ukraine. Chabad-Lubavitch’s network of hundreds of emissaries and volunteers in every corner of the beleaguered nation are working to ensure that Jewish residents can celebrate the holiday with joy.

In central Ukraine, Chana and Rabbi Dov Axelrod visited local families and helped the homebound and elderly mark Chanukah, as well as hosted a communal celebration at Chabad of Cherkassy on Sunday for some 200 residents.

“It was such a beautiful program,” said Ira Aleksinko. “So many people worked so hard to make it special. So many members of our wonderful community came, but there was enough space, doughnuts and gifts for all. I was glad to see familiar faces and the joyful looks from children and adults.”

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Margarita Fidel called the event a “great success” and said that “our community is the best. May the light of the Chanukah candles illuminate every home and warm every heart.”

There were holiday games, crafts, food, activities and more. One of the local community members, Valentina Taibishlak, facilitated a holiday discussion for seniors. As the sun went down, everyone stepped outside into the courtyard for the menorah-lighting. A performance by a fire-and-light artist using sparklers followed.

Celebrants in Cherkassy received some of the 40,000 Chanukah kits that have been distributed to Jews in every city and village throughout Ukraine thanks to the work of the JRNU (Jewish Relief Network Ukraine), Chabad’s boots on the ground aid network in Ukraine. The kits include a menorah, candles, dreidels, a Chanukah book for children and chocolate gelt.

A full slate of events have been taking place at Chabad of Odessa, in the nation’s south. Teens and young adults celebrated at a Chanukah party where they made candles, played dreidel and decorated doughnuts. Families and community members of all ages celebrated together on Sunday with dinner, games, activities for kids, performances by members of a children’s dance group and a laser show.

Women held a celebration of their own on Monday night, where Rabbi Avraham Wolff, director of Chabad of Odessa and chief rabbi of the seas side city, lit the menorah and Rabbi Fishel Chychelnytskyi spoke about every good deed being akin to a lit candle illuminating the darkness. Following the program, the women were all given gift boxes with doughnuts, dreidels and chocolate Chanukah gelt to share with their children and grandchildren.

Lighting with President Zelensky

A few days earlier, Wolff had traveled with fellow Chabad emissaries to the capital city of Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to celebrate the start of Chanukah in the presidential palace. Taking the wax shammash (or helper candle) in his hands, Zelensky, who is Jewish, himself kindled the first lamp on the silver olive-oil menorah. The president was joined by Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis representing Jewish communities large and small throughout Ukraine.

“A big thanks to all of you, and warm wishes on this holiday of light, Chanukah,” Zelensky said in Ukrainian. “This holiday, I believe, is about victory—the victory and strength of the spirit. I wish you, and all of us, the blessing of light, which is always on the side of those who choose life.”

In Kharkov, the second-largest city in Ukraine and only a couple of dozen miles from the Russian border, a giant menorah was lit in the main square. Authorities asked that the crowd be a minimal one, as Kharkov is still regularly targeted, so the outdoor lighting took place without the usual fanfare.

Still, there were plenty of chances to celebrate together with menorah-lightings in shopping centers and, like last year, in the local subway station—which in the beginning of the war served as communal shelters for thousands. Billboards were placed around the city last week to share the message of the “Festival of Lights,” and will remain up through the end of Chanukah.

Chanukah in the eastern city began with a Shabbaton for a group of teenage boys. After the Havdalah ceremony marking the end of Shabbat on Saturday night, the boys drove through the city with car-topped menorahs and lighting outdoor menorah displays and those set up inside the malls throughout the city. They also went to visit the homes of the elderly, to help them celebrate Chanukah.

“Among the group of youngsters is a boy named Arsen,” said Miriam Moskovitz, who along with her husband, Rabbi Moshe Moskovitz, has directed Chabad of Kharkov for more than 30 years. “Arsen celebrated his first Chanukah this year after attending our Jewish summer camp earlier this year. Arsen told his mother, ‘Thank you for making me born Jewish!’”

Arsen and his mother were among the hundreds of people gathered at the Choral Synagogue for a large community celebration on Sunday complete with performances, games, activities and plenty of holiday fare. Kharkov Mayor Igor Terekhov helped light the menorah and thanked the Jewish community for all the humanitarian aid that they have provided to the people of the entire city, irrespective of their faith or nationality.

Rabbi Moskovitz spoke of the power of light and goodness to dispel the darkness in today’s world. Afterward, everyone said a prayer for the end of the war in Ukraine and the return of the Israeli hostages being held captive in Gaza.

The day ended with a menorah parade that drove through the city, passing buildings damaged by the war. The message, said Miriam Moskovitz, was one of “resilience and hope, even in the darkest of times.”