L'Chaim

Obama Pays Tribute to Hanukkah

With menorah rescued from NOLA.

President Obama led the White House in the official Hanukkah reception Thursday evening, the second night of the Jewish Festival of Lights, and lit a menorah rescued from a New Orleans synagogue after Hurricane Katrina. Obama welcomed U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jim Cunningham, as well as Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer, and Elena Kagan. Susan Retik, a Presidential Freedom Medal winner whose husband died in the September 11 terrorist attacks, lit the menorah, on loan from Congregation Beth Israel. Obama took a moment to wish everyone a happy Hanukkah, and joked, “Yes, they will be able to Photoshop my lip for the picture.”