From battlefield to memorial, Israel turns loss into light, confronting terror while honoring fallen together.
The fifth candle lighting of Hanukkah was held Thursday evening at the National Memorial Hall on Mount Herzl in a deeply moving national ceremony, marked by the arrival of a menorah that journeyed from Gaza. The menorah was first lit a year ago by soldiers of the IDF’s 401st Brigade in Palestine Square, transforming an instrument of war’s landscape into a symbol of Jewish endurance and moral clarity.
The candles were ignited using a memorial torch that traveled across Israel in recent days, carried by emissaries among bereaved families from every sector of society. Its arrival at Mount Herzl represented a shared national path—where grief, responsibility, and hope converge.
Aryeh Mualem, Deputy Director General and Head of the Families, Commemoration and Heritage Division at the Ministry of Defense, described the ceremony as a profound meeting point between private loss and collective memory. Even in the shadow of terror and violence, Israel chooses continuity, remembrance, and light.
“On this evening, the fifth candle of Hanukkah, we choose to increase the light,” Mualem said. “Not to deny the darkness, but to stand against it together—family to family, person to person, people to people.”
The journey of the menorah—from Gaza to Mount Herzl—embodied Israel’s unbroken resolve: transforming pain into purpose, and memory into strength.The fifth candle lighting of Hanukkah was held Thursday evening at the National Memorial Hall on Mount Herzl in a deeply moving national ceremony, marked by the arrival of a menorah that journeyed from Gaza. The menorah was first lit a year ago by soldiers of the IDF’s 401st Brigade in Palestine Square, transforming an instrument of war’s landscape into a symbol of Jewish endurance and moral clarity.
The candles were ignited using a memorial torch that traveled across Israel in recent days, carried by emissaries among bereaved families from every sector of society. Its arrival at Mount Herzl represented a shared national path—where grief, responsibility, and hope converge.
Aryeh Mualem, Deputy Director General and Head of the Families, Commemoration and Heritage Division at the Ministry of Defense, described the ceremony as a profound meeting point between private loss and collective memory. Even in the shadow of terror and violence, Israel chooses continuity, remembrance, and light.
“On this evening, the fifth candle of Hanukkah, we choose to increase the light,” Mualem said. “Not to deny the darkness, but to stand against it together—family to family, person to person, people to people.”
The journey of the menorah—from Gaza to Mount Herzl—embodied Israel’s unbroken resolve: transforming pain into purpose, and memory into strength.
