What date is Hanukkah 2023, how and why is it celebrated?
manchestereveningnews.co.ukJewish communities will start celebrating Hanukkah this week with public events planned across Greater Manchester over the eight nights of the festival.
The annual festival involves lighting candles on a menorah, eating fried foods and spinning dreidels. But the celebrations come during a difficult period for many Jewish people who have faced a rise in anti-Semitism since the recent war in Gaza started on October 7 when Hamas, the group controlling the Palestinian territory which is considered a terrorist organisation in the UK, launched an attack on Israel.
Since then, thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have been killed. Last week, the Community Security Trust (CST), which works within Jewish communities to offer security advice and support, said it had recorded 293 anti-Semitic incidents in Greater Manchester since the start of the latest conflict in the Middle East.
However, community leaders are encouraging Jewish people to attend Hanukkah celebrations across the city-region as usual this year. READ MORE: Proposed Manchester schools strike for Palestine condemned by Jewish Council READ MORE: Today's top Manchester Evening News stories It comes after a council in London cancelled a Hanukkah candle display citing 'escalating tensions from the conflict in the Middle East'.
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