Noah Brezner, 4, holds a menorah in his pre-kindergarten class at the Bertha Alyce Early Childhood Center at the Jewish Community Center of Houston Monday, Dec. 3, 2007. The class has been preparing for Hanukkah for the past week.
St. Paul, Minn.
A large menorah is lit on the grounds of the Minnesota State Capitol by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007 in St. Paul, Minn. Tuesday evening was the first night of the eight-day Jewish holiday Hanukkah, "the festival of lights."
Washington
Attorney General Michael Mukasey, center, assisted by Rabbi's Abraham Shemtov, left, and Levi Shemtov, right, light the National Hanukkah Menorah during a ceremony on The Ellipse, Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007, in Washington. The lighting of the menorah coincided with the first night of Hanukkah.
Berlin, Germany
Children dance in front of a giant, gas-lit menorah shortly before members of the local Jewish community lit it in front of the Brandenburg Gate at the start of Hanukkah, Tuesday, December 4, 2007, in Berlin, Germany. Berlin's Jewish community has grown sharply in recent years with the arrival of thousands of Jews from the former Soviet Union.
Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, right, prepares to light a giant, gas-lit menorah in front of the Brandenburg Gate as Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit, center, looks on at the start of Hanukkah Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007, in Berlin, Germany.
Jerusalem
Israelis look at a large Hanukiah, a Jewish candle holder traditionally used during the Hanukkah holiday, at the city hall building in Jerusalem Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007.
Budapest, Hungary
Members of the Hungarian Orthodox Jewish community dance at the beginning of the Hanukkah Festival in downtown Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday Dec. 4, 2007. Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, lasts eight days, and commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in 165 B.C. at the time of the Maccabee rebellion.
A Hungarian Orthodox Jewish man dances with his son at the beginning of the Hanukkah Festival in downtown Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007. The Hanukkah Festival is also known as the Festival of Lights and lasts eight days. It commemorates the rededication of the Jewish Second Temple in Jerusalem in 165 B.C. after its desecration by followers of Antiochus of Syria.
Moscow
People dance and sing to mark the start of Hanukkah in front of the Kremlin in Moscow, on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007. Dozens of people huddled together to watch the lighting of a menorah. The lighting of a menorah begins the eight-day commemoration of the Jewish uprising in the second century B.C. against the Greek-Syrian kingdom, which had tried to put statues of Greek gods in a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.