'In 1991, I lit Hanukkah candles with Mikhail Gorbachev, who was the president of the Soviet Union’: Rabbi Jonathan Sachs
Why did Mikhail Gorbachev or Hanukkah turn red in our time
70 years ago, the Jews lost their freedom in Russia, and you helped them regain it, so you became a part of the history of Hanukkah...
In 1967, after Israel's victory in the Six-Day War, many Soviet Jews tried to leave Russia and go to Israel. Not only were they denied, but Jews often lost their jobs and were imprisoned. All over the world, Jews campaigned for the "refusers" to be released and allowed to leave.
In the end, Mikhail Gorbachev realized that the entire Soviet system was unacceptable. Communism brought not freedom and equality, but repression, a police state and a new hierarchy of power. In the end, it collapsed, and the Jews regained their freedom to observe the commandments of the Torah and the opportunity to leave for Israel.
On that day in 1991, when we lit the candles, Gorbachev asked me through his translator to tell him what the point of this action was. I told him that more than 2,000 years ago, after the prohibition of Judaism, the Jews fought for their freedom and won, and these lights are a symbol of this victory.
And I continued: "70 years ago, the Jews lost their freedom in Russia, and you helped them regain it, so you became a part of the history of Hanukkah." And when the translator translated these words into Russian, Mikhail Gorbachev blushed. The history of this holiday still lives and inspires, telling not only us, but also the whole world, that freedom, with God's help, will always win the final battle.