Continuing a tradition started by his predecessor Lech Kaczynski, Polish president Bronisław Komorowski lit a Chanukah candle Saturday night in a ceremony at the presidential Belvedere Palace in Warsaw.
Poland’s chief rabbi Michael Schudrich, the president of the Jewish community in Warsaw Piotr Kadlcik, and Israel’s ambassador to Poland Zvi Rav-Ner were among the people who accompanied Komorowski as he was lighting the candle.
"I am glad that you come to our home, come with what is beautiful about the Jewish tradition and with what brings people closer together." Komorowski said during the ceremony.
"It is my conviction that in this place together we can feel what is the source of beauty, wisdom and a better humanity. Let this place be the meeting point of different traditions and different religions, and let this light make the world warmer, brighter, and more enlightened," he added.
The Israeli ambassador recallad "the times before the war when millions of Chanukah candles were lit” in Warsaw and in the rest of Poland.
"Those times will not return,", said Rav-Ner, "but I am glad that we can all be here together and renew the Jewish tradition and Jewish culture in Poland."
A Jewish children’s choir from the school of Lauder-Morasha in Warsaw performed during the ceremony and were given gifts by the Polish president and his wife Anna.
Komorowski's predecessor, Lech Kaczynski, was the one who began the yearly tradition of marking the Jewish holiday of Lights in Warsaw.
Kaczynski was regarded as a great friend of the Jews and a key figure in the restoration of the Polish – Jewish and Israeli relationship.
He was killed in a plane crash in Katyn, Russia, in April along with his wife Maria and nearly a hundred top Polish officials who accompanied them on the flight.