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.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Israel News Watch: What happens next with Israel’s judicial overhaul?
-
Israel News ‘A very, very dangerous situation’: An Israeli journalist’s key takeaways from recent protests
-
Israel News Fresh water could be in extremely short supply in Israel in just a few decades, study says
-
Israel News Jerusalem twin bombings: Deadly innovation stirs old traumas
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Fast Forward Jewish Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky reportedly to retire after 26 years in office
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.