Public Displays
The menorah is often displayed in public around Hanukkah time. Elected officials often participate in publicly lighting the menorah. The Chabad-Lubavitch movement is well associated with public lighting ceremonies, which it has done since a directive from their last Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in 1987.
Since 1979, the White House has been represented at the lighting of a national menorah in celebration of Hanukkah, beginning with the attendance of President Jimmy Carter in the ceremony in Lafayette Park. In 2009, both White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger lit the menorah. Additionally, beginning with President Bill Clinton in 1993, a Hanukkah menorah was lit in the Oval Office of the White House, and in 2001, President George W. Bush began the annual tradition of a White House Hanukkah Party in the White House residence, which includes a menorah candle lighting ceremony.
In the United Kingdom, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom each year holds a menorah lighting at the home of the Speaker of the House of Commons. The menorah currently used was commissioned by the Rt. Hon. Michael J. Martin MP, former Speaker of the House of Commons.
The world's largest menorah is in Manado in Indonesia; a country with a Jewish population of around 20 people only. It stands at 62 feet tall. Another big menorah is in New York City and stands at 32 feet and is lit at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street in Manhattan near Central Park. A 4,000-pound structure, it is the work of Israeli artist Yaacov Agam. Because of the menorah’s height, Con Edison assists the lighting by using a crane to lift each person to the top.
Read more about this topic: Menorah (Hanukkah)
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