On the fourth night of Chanukah, 1979, Jimmy Carter became the first American president in history to publicly light a Chanukah menorah, kicking off an annual tradition in Washington, D.C. Photo: Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum
In late 1979 the Embassy of the United States in Tehran was overrun by Iranian student terrorists and 50 Americans taken hostage. The embassy attack was a brazen affront to U.S. prestige worldwide, and President Jimmy Carter came under unrelenting pressure to secure the safe return of the hostages. In the midst of the ever-worsening Iran Hostage Crisis, the beleaguered president stepped out of the White House one mid-December evening to dedicate the first-ever lighting of the National Chanukah Menorah.
It was the fourth night of Chanukah, Dec. 17, 1979. With advisor Stuart Eizenstat and administration staff at his side, the president left the White House on foot, crossing the street to enter Lafayette Park, where the giant menorah had been erected. There he was greeted by Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, who escorted him to the podium. Carter was honored with the lighting of the shamash—the candle from which the others are kindled—after which Eizenstat, his two young sons, and incoming Secretary of Commerce Philip Klutznick lit the candles on the menorah. After a few words by Shemtov, the rabbi introduced the president to share his thoughts with the assembled crowd.
“[T]he season of Chanukah commemorates the victory of religious freedom,” President Carter said as he stood next to the menorah. “At the commencement of the celebration of this annual event, this season of thanksgiving and closeness to G-d, there was a miracle within which the candle which was supposed to only burn a short time burned for eight days and nights.”
With the 52 American hostages on his mind, Carter saw more than just a history lesson in the message of Chanukah. “This miracle,” he said, “showed that G-d meets our needs. If we depend on Him, He will meet our needs.”
The White House had prepared short remarks for the president, but he chose to discard them and speak extemporaneously from the heart.
“This season commemorates the perpetuation of age-old dreams and the hunger of men and women down through the ages to maintain a spirit committed to life under the most difficult circumstances, the most difficult persecutions, the most difficult dangers, and the most difficult suffering,” Carter continued. “It also commemorates humankind’s commitment to be free. These commitments to live and to be free are ever present these days in the minds and hearts of all Americans, because we know that 50 of our fellow human beings, our fellow citizens, are not free and they want to live. We pray that this will prevail, this desire to be free and to maintain life.”
Echoing a Chassidic teaching, the president noted that the shamash candle’s light does not diminish when it shares its flame with others. “It shows that when we give life and love to others, the life and love in our own hearts is not diminished. As a matter of fact, it grows the more we share it. So, tonight we pray that our closeness to G-d, our memory of these fine commitments of human beings down through the ages will strengthen our desires to share our life and our love ... for men and women throughout the world who don't always have freedom and whose lives might be in danger.”
That fourth light of Chanukah, Jimmy Carter, who died at age 100 on Dec. 29, 2024, became the first American president in history to publicly light a Chanukah menorah, kicking off an annual Washington, D.C., tradition that has helped launch the Jewish holiday into the public sphere. Chanukah is celebrated according to the Jewish calendar, and Carter’s passing occurred on the fourth light of the holiday—exactly 45 years to the day since he kindled the menorah.
The National Menorah was the brainchild of Shemtov, a Chabad emissary in Philadelphia who also chairs American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) in Washington, D.C, serving for more than half a century as representative of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, to the nation’s capital. Just a few years earlier, in the winter of 1973, the Rebbe launched a Chanukah awareness campaign, urging increased private observations and public displays of the eight-day holiday.
When he initiated the Chanukah campaign, the Rebbe spoke of the need to bring the light of the menorah to the streets, not only as a reminder that Jews in America are free of persecution and deserve to enjoy their rights as a minority, but as a universal message of freedom and liberty for all. On Chanukah 1974—exactly 50 years ago—Shemtov erected the first-ever public menorah in Independence Mall in Philadelphia, followed quickly by giant Chabad menorahs in San Francisco and New York City. The National Menorah was perhaps the most prominent of them all.
“I ... take this opportunity of expressing to you my genuine gratification at your personal participation in the ceremony of lighting the Chanukah Candelabra in front of the White House,” the Rebbe wrote to Carter several weeks after his dedication of the National Menorah. “The symbol of light is universal for all people on earth, Jews and non-Jews. The intrinsic power of light, in that even a small light dispels a lot of darkness, is surely a source of inspiration to all men of good will with its eternal message of the eventual triumph of all that is good and bright in human life.”
Eizenstat, the president’s domestic affairs chief, had played a key role in setting up the National Menorah, and the Rebbe wrote separately thanking him, noting in particular the participation of Eizenstat’s wife and young sons—who recited the blessings on the menorah—in the ceremony. (The renowned opera tenor Jan Peerce sang Maoz Tzur.)
But it was the president himself, Carter, who inaugurated the new national tradition.
“I felt it was important for our country to practice its commitment to religious pluralism by lighting the menorah on U.S. Park Service land,” Carter told the Washington Post in 2020. “I hoped this would help elevate this Jewish holiday into one all Americans would recognize, and I am grateful this annual event has grown much larger over time.”
Indeed, every administration has participated in the National Menorah celebration since, and the annual event—which moved from Lafayette Park to the Ellipse in 1987—draws thousands of participants, and the menorah is seen by millions. Today, the Chabad movement erects some 15,000 giant public menorahs around the world.
President Jimmy Carter
Conflicting Legacy
President James Earl (“Jimmy”) Carter was born on Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, where he lived for most of his life. A Navy veteran and activist in the civil-rights movement, he began his political career in 1963 as a Georgia state senator before being elected governor of Georgia in 1970. In 1976, he defeated incumbent President Gerald Ford and served one term as president until his defeat by Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election.
Carter’s legacy is not a simple one. His position towards Israel during his presidency severely hampered its ability to defend itself, and his post-presidential Middle East activism led many to question Carter’s affinity for the Jewish people in the first place. Nevertheless, as the Rebbe highlighted in particular in the aftermath of, and in reference to, Carter’s 1980 loss, “Torah bids us to be grateful [and] to acknowledge those good things which were done.”
Reprinted from the current website of Chabad.Org
