Dec 21, 2025
Yesterday, immediately after Shabbat, we lit the seventh Hanukkah candle at the Babi Yar National Historical Memorial Reserve.
I consider the lighting of seven candles in such an important and at the same time difficult place for all Jews as Babi Yar to be very symbolic! Because it is precisely seven candles that testify to the strength and steadfastness of our faith and spirit, despite all the trials and tribulations.
The lighting ceremony was attended by representatives of Ukraine's military and political leadership, public and political figures, members of the Jewish community of Kyiv, and the leadership of the Babi Yar National Historical and Memorial Reserve. The chairman of the All-Ukrainian Association of Jews - Former Prisoners of Ghettos and Nazi Concentration Camps, Boris Mikhailovich Zabarco, together with those who survived the horrors of the concentration camps, honored the ceremony with their presence.
The candles were lit by my middle son, Israel Azman, and Chaim Kapper, whose father miraculously escaped from Babi Yar during the Holocaust.
After the lighting of the Hanukkah menorah, a motorcade with Hanukkah menorahs, called the “Marathon of Light” drove through the streets of Kyiv.