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Published on 15 December 2015
Israeli, US Jewry bring Hanukka cheer to Paris Synagogue ceremony
By Rinat Bassist, published in the Jerusalem Post December 10, 2015
A grand ceremony took place Wednesday night at the Paris Great Synagogue on Rue de la Victoire.
The beautiful old building, with its tainted glass windows, presented a spectacular background for some of Israel’s top musicians in the special “Let there be Light” Hanukka show.
Colorful lighting and an orchestra turned the synagogue almost into a scene out of fairytale.
Thousands of Parisians joined Jews from around the world on the fourth night of Hanukka, in tribute to the January Paris attacks at Hyper Cacher and Charlie Hebdo.
The evening opened with family members of the victims killed at the Hyper Cacher attack last January lighting the Hanukka candles.
The kadish prayer was also recited, followed by greetings delivered by Israeli ambassador to Paris Aliza Bin-Noun. The second part of the evening was dedicated to the joys of Jewish and Israeli musical hits, with the crowd cheering and singing along.
Israeli singers Yehoram Gaon, Ohad Moskowitz, Itzik Dadya, Amir Haddad, Uziya Tzadok and Avi Miller arrived to Paris especially for this occasion – responding to the call of American Nachum Segal to take part at the performance.
Segal is the president and anchorman of the Nachum Segal Networks (NSM radio), a NY based 24 hour Jewish radio station. Its flagship program is JM in the AM, where Segal hosts intellectuals, politicians, celebrities, musicians and prominent Jewish figures, bringing to both Israeli and American Jews interesting, timely news and Jewish content.
Segal told The Jerusalem Post that for the last 32 years he has been undertaking an unintended Jewish unity initiative, traveling with his radio program to many Jewish communities across the US and Israel where Jews have been confronted with hardships.
“Our goal is to bridge between Israeli Jewry and American Jewry,” said Segal. “We went to Sderot in the summer of the Gaza war. Our goal at the time was double; to show the people of Sderot that there are Jews around the world thinking of them and reaching out to them, and also to tell American Jews how the people of Sderot were feeling and coping with the situation of being hit by rockets on a daily basis.’’ Segal said that after the attacks in Paris last January, he knew that his program must go to France.
“The Unity Initiative had to land in Europe for the first time. This was clear to us after the attack against the Hyper Cacher. The attacks this November only strengthened our resolve to come here, and bring the best of the Jewish music to the Parisian Jewish community”... Read more.