With the participation of President Andrzej Duda, Speaker of the Sejm Szymon Holownia, Speaker of the Senate Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Israeli Ambassador Yacov Livne, and in the presence of around 200 guests, a renewed Hanukkah menorah lighting ceremony was held in the Polish Sejm on the last day of the Hanukkah holiday. The Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich, Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber Stambler of the Chabad-Lubavitch community and representatives of the Jewish community also came to the Sejm on Thursday 14 December.
“This is the true face of Poland, we are all together. The day before yesterday the Hanukkah candles were extinguished, but our reaction was immediate and we lit them again. This is a symbol of our Jewish and Polish history. This is not the first time someone has tried to extinguish our light, but we will always light the candles again. They cannot extinguish us because we stand together”, stressed Michael Schudrich in his speech.
The rabbi of the Chabad-Lubavitch community of Poland, Shalom Dov Ber Stambler, thanked Speaker Holownia for another invitation to the Sejm.
“For two days now, I have seen a huge wave of tolerance here. It is something amazing. We will not fight the darkness physically, because there is no reason how and what for. We will dispel darkness through light and we are lucky that a little light can dispel a lot of darkness. This is the ceremony of lighting the Hanukkah candles, lighting tolerance, mutual respect and freedom of religion”, he stressed.
During the ceremony, Speaker of the Sejm Szymon Holownia lit the first of nine candles on the hanukkiya. Candles were also lit by, among others, the Israeli Ambassador Jacov Livne, the Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich and the journalist, social activist and historian, Holocaust survivor Marian Turski.
It should be recalled that the previous ceremony, which took place on Tuesday, 12 December, was disrupted by MP Grzegorz Braun. In connection with the incident, the Presidium of the Sejm applied the maximum financial penalty to the MP. The Presidium of the Sejm has also authorised the Chancellery of the Sejm to report to the prosecutor’s office on the probable perpetration of an offence.
Adrian Andrzejewski