President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama celebrated Hanukkah at the White House on the second night of the Jewish festival of lights. The celebration occurred in the East Room Thursday, where guests recited traditional prayers while lighting candles in a menorah lent by a congregation in New Orleans that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The president and first lady looked on as the candle-lighting ceremony took place.

The president called the story of Hanukkah “as simple as it is timeless.” In the Hanukkah story a small band of Jews rededicating a Jerusalem temple finds that a one-day supply of oil kindles a flame instead for eight.-hp

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