This year, Jewish communities around the world came together to mark the start of the holiday. In Tel Aviv, people released balloons in solidarity with Israeli hostages held by Hamas. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attended a candle-lighting ceremony at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Dressed in a kippah, Mr. Scholz called for the immediate release of the hostages and said: “I hope that the light of the menorah will shine in this square long after the eight days of Hanukkah celebrations.” The British ambassador spoke during a Hanukkah ceremony at Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kiev. “Light will overcome darkness,” he said.

In London, the giant menorah will be on display in Trafalgar Square for a week, with one candle lit each day. St. John’s Wood Synagogue held a very special celebration of the first night of Hanukkah as a part of the One Candle Giving Day campaign, which benefits grassroots volunteer aid and relief organisations in Israel, with the help of volunteers from the Russian-speaking Mishkan Jewish community, Berlin-based comedy duo TwoJews and musician Erran Baron Cohen were invited to  perform for guests of the Synagogue on stage.

Motl Gordon, a rabbi, who fled Russia upon the breakout of war in Ukraine, started the celebration with a prayer and announced that this Hanukkah is that this Hanukkah is more unusual and relevant than ever. After praying according to ancient custom with a special candle in the centre of Hanukkiah, he lit the first candle.

The comedy duo Two Jews sang about the most pressing topics: Hanukkah, women’s many rights and gay love that was found in Al-Qaeda by two of its most unlikely members (spoiler: they were Jewish). Despite all the hardships faced by the Jewish people throughout history, the duo concluded at the end of their performance that the “Jews never lose, because high IQs!”

The performance of Erran Baron Cohen and his band Zohar was less rich in comedy and brought a real party atmosphere into the Synagogue. Erron Baron Cohen, a talented trumpet player and producer, famous for his scores in his younger brother Sacha Baron Cohen’s films, played thoughtful songs in the style of world music. The band sang their original pieces, like their own version of the Jewish-American Hanukkah sing “Dreidel”, which, besides vocals, also included rap verses. At the end of their performance, they played a cover of Britney Spears’s “Baby, One More Time”, inviting the guests to join them for the celebration on the dance-floor.

A charitable auction took place between the two musical numbers to help raise financial support for the IDF. The items that were on offer were kindly donated for this cause by the members of the international Jewish community. Harmonica of the “TwoJews”, which was out on offer by the comedians right after their performance was among the many other unique and interesting objects that were presented to the public. These included a signed copy of the recently published play by Tom Stoppard “Leopoldstadt”, which also included a personal message from the author, a “Yellow Duck” — a minimalist sculpture piece by a St. Petersburg-based artist Konstantin Benkovich, — and a ticket for a personal excursion around Jerusalem with a technology entrepreneur Arkady Volozh.

Although many people watched the event online, the atmosphere of Hanukkah at the London Synagogue went far beyond computer screens and kicked off this year’s Hanukkah season.

For the rest of Hanukkah, the founders of On Candle Giving Day, a crowdfunding campaign to benefit volunteer organisations to help and support people in Israel, invite you to get involved!