Dreaming of a White House Hanukkah
President Bush’s national approval ratings may have hit rock bottom, but it’s safe to say he has a fan in 14-year-old Ariel Cohen.
Ariel was tapped to light the menorah at this year’s Hanukkah party, held Monday, on the fourth night of the holiday. She was picked for the gig after meeting Laura Bush when the first lady visited the Washington Children’s Hospital last year. At the time, Ariel was recovering from a pediatric stroke. The young girl asked if she could have a Hanukkah party at the White House and Bush reportedly said yes, if she worked hard on her recovery.
She was joined by her 11-year-old sister Alison and her parents, Dan and Rachel.
After the ceremony, President Bush praised Ariel, saying, “she did a wonderful job of saying the Hanukkah blessing and lighting the candles.”
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
