Hanukkah celebrations around the world

Jews around the world ushered in the eight-day Hanukkah festival Dec. 8, lighting the candles of ceremonial lamps that symbolize triumph over oppression. Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal (left) and Rabbi Segal Shmoel (right) installed a giant Hanukkah Menorah in Berlin. Take a look at more scenes from the Jewish Festival of Lights from around the world.

Rabbi Larry Bazer lit the menorah while President and Mrs. Michelle Obama watched in the grand foyer of the White House on Dec. 13.

Orthodox Jewish men in Budapest danced after the fifth lantern on a menorah was lit in a square in front of the Western Railway Station on Dec. 12.

British Prime Minister David Cameron hosted a reception for Hanukkah with chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks at 10 Downing Street in London on Dec 12.

An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish teacher divided cakes for children at a kindergarten in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem on Dec. 12.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish children danced around a classroom in celebration of the Jewish festival.

What is billed as the “world’s largest menorah” stood after a ceremonial lighting in Grand Army Plaza in Manhattan on Dec. 11 . The 32-foot-high, 4,000-pound steel icon of Hanukkah sat on the edge of Central Park and is traditionally lit each night of the Jewish holiday just after sundown.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews and children watched Hanukkah’s fourth candle lighting on Dec. 11.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men lit Hunukkah candles in Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv on Dec. 10.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men sat during a celebration on the third night of Hanukkah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) lit Hanukkah candles during an event with foreign press in Jerusalem on Dec. 10.

Yeshiva students celebrated and danced at the start of the annual Hanukkah parade organized by the Lubavitch Yeshiva International School of Chabad Leadership in Oak Park, Mich., on Dec. 9.

Yisroel Polter (left) and Schneur Zalman Brown (right) peeked through the sunroof of their car as they prepared for the annual Hanukkah parade in Oak Park, Mich., on Dec. 9.

Rabbi Levi Shemtov, left, Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Jeffrey Zients, and Rabbi Abraham Shemtov lit the National Hanukkah Menorah during an event sponsored by the American Friends of Lubavitch in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 9.

A member of the Macabees stood in front of the stage as Dreidelman danced during a ceremony to light the National Hanukkah Menorah during an event sponsored by the American Friends of Lubavitch in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 9.

German Education and Research Minister Annette Schavan and Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal held a Hanukkah candelabrum at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Dec. 9.

An Israeli child and her sister looked at the wares on display in a bakery specializing in a wide array of jelly doughnuts in central Tel Aviv on Dec. 9. The doughnuts are sold mainly during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man lit a candle on the first night of the holiday of Hanukkah in the southern city of Ashdod in Israel.

An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man lits the first Hanukkah candle outside his house in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighbourhood on Dec. 8. Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is celebrated by Jews worldwide.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews danced after lighting candles on the first night of the holiday of Hanukkah in Ashdod, Israel.

Poland’s chief rabbi Michael Schudrich (center) lit the first candle celebrating the beginning of Hanukkah.

Rabbis Segal (left) and Teichtal of the Orthodox Jewish Chabad Lubawitsch community blessed the menorah after erecting it in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

People gathered to watch the lightning of the first candle on Grzybowski square in Warsaw. The holiday lasts eight days because according to tradition, when the Jews rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem, a single vial of oil, enough for one day, burned miraculously for eight.

The first light is lit at a menorah in front of the City Hall in Erfurt, Germany. The menorah has been displayed here for many years during Hanukkah.

Members of Hungary’s Jewish community gathered to celebrate Hanukkah and to light the first candle on the menorah in downtown Budapest.

An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman is seen after the first Hanukkah candle had been lit inside her house in Jerusalem.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews lit a candle on the first night of the holiday in tAshdod, Israel.

Preschoolers listened to Cindy Rivka Marshall of Needham tell a story about a giant who ate potato latkes during an event at The Rashi School in Dedham on Dec. 7 in preparation for Hanukkah.

Talia Wilk (left), 4, and Emily Zisow, 4, sat on the lap of Talia’s mom, Susan Wilk of Newton and listened to the story along with Rose Koritz (foreground), 3, of Dover.