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The Jewish community from the Kurdistan Region lights a candle on the menorah during Hanukkah, Dec. 29, 2019. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Members of the Jewish community from the Kurdistan Region gathered in the town of Al-Qosh within the Nineveh Plains on Sunday to celebrate Hanukkah, also known as the Jewish Festival of Lights.
The celebration falls on the 25th of Kislev, the ninth month in the lunisolar Hebrew calendar. The festival lasts for eight days. This year’s festival began on Dec. 22 and will end on Dec. 30.
The prestigious ceremony is also symbolized by eight unique candles on the menorah. During each night of Hanukkah, a new candle is lit.
Ranj Cohen, a Kurdish Jew who participated in the festival, explained to Kurdistan 24 that the Jewish community from the Kurdistan Region celebrates the ceremony annually at the final resting place of their prophet Nahum, where they light “the final candle” on the nine-branch menorah.
Hemn Faraydun, a member of the Jewish community present at the ceremony, told Kurdistan 24 that “coexistence has always been one of the privileges of the Kurdistan Region,” pointing to the several religious communities such as of Jews, Christians, and Muslims who “live together in peace.”
“When ISIS attacked major cities in Iraq, killing religious minorities and demolishing their temples, looting their possessions and symbols of worship, the Kurdistan Region was the only safe place that the terrorist group couldn’t reach,” Faraydun added.
“Peshmerga forces have been protecting Al-Qosh since the beginning of ISIS attacks. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is currently renovating the town.”
When the so-called Islamic State took over large swaths of land in Iraq in 2014, the Jewish population in much of the country was forced to take refuge in the Kurdistan Region where possible or to emigrate abroad to escape religious extremism and political instability.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
(Additional reporting by Masoud Mohammed)