Berlin Terror Victim’s Son Lights Menorah Candle
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The son of an Israeli woman killed this month in a terror attack on a Christmas market in this city lit the fourth Hanukkah candle on a giant menorah at the nearby Brandenburg Gate.
Or Elyakim performed the ritual Tuesday at the annual multi-faith ceremony organized by Chabad at Berlin’s famous landmark. Among the guests at the heavily secured event were local politicians, representatives of the Jewish community and other Jewish organizations, and Israel’s Ambassador to Germany Yakov Hadas-Handelsman.
Elyakim’s mother, Dalia Elyakim, was one of 12 people killed when a hijacked truck officials said was driven by Tunisian Anis Amri plowed into the market on December 19. Dalia Elyakim was buried in Herzliya Friday.
Rami Elyakim, Or Elyakim’s father, was recovering from his injuries in a Berlin hospital. Rami Elyakim was on vacation with his wife a the time of the terrorism attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State terror group.
Yehuda Teichtal, the head of the Chabad center in Berlin and a rabbi in the city’s Jewish community, said the ceremony should “send a message to the world that Germany is an open and tolerant country.”
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