Members of Taipei’s Jewish community gathered at the Taipei City Hall Plaza last night to celebrate Hanukkah — the Jewish Festival of Lights — by lighting up a menorah nearly 4m tall.
A menorah is a candelabrum used in Jewish worship, typically with eight branches.
The eight-day holiday, which remembers the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 165 BC, is being celebrated from Wednesday last week through this Wednesday.
Photo: CNA
Organized by the Taipei Jewish Center, yesterday’s event offered sufganiyot — Jewish donuts — to observe the custom of eating fried foods during Hanukkah, while traditional Hanukkah music played in the background.
Participants were invited to make colorful hand-crafted candles and other festive decorations, and to watch a performance by a magician.
Elie, a member of the Jewish community from France, lit the glistening menorah with a torch while perched on a ladder.
In contrast with many other places around the world that might have anti-Semitic tension, Taipei provides a welcoming atmosphere for Jewish people to practice their faith, he said.
Rabbi Shlomi Tabib described Taiwan as a “secure and comfortable place for Jewish people to live in,” adding that the Jewish community in Taiwan is growing.
Although Hanukkah has been celebrated in Taipei for several years, this is the first time the event has been held at a public venue in cooperation with the Taipei City Government.
More than 100 people attended the ceremony, including adults and children from the Jewish community in Taiwan as well as Taiwanese interested in the Jewish culture and Judaism.
One Taiwanese participant said that although she is a Christian, she attended the event because she is learning Hebrew and has an interest in Jewish culture.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition