KKL-JNF shines a light on rare Chanukah images

To mark Chanukah this year, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) has unveiled a collection of five rare photographs from its historical archive, sharing special moments captured on camera between 1926 and 1969.

Among the images are: kindergarten children in 1926 holding illustrated placards spelling out the word “Chanukah” in Hebrew; a group of participants in the 1949 Torch Relay carrying torches representing different communities across the country, including Tirat Zvi, Modi’in, Eilat, and Yehiam; children lighting small torches with candles in 1969; participants from the scouts youth movement at the President’s Residence after the Torch Relay, photographed against the backdrop of a lit Chanukiah; and the lighting of a Chanukiah in Mitzpe Modi’in in Ben Shemen Forest in 1963.

The festive Torch Relay, held throughout Israel for decades, was a moving tradition that connected communities, youth movements, and educational institutions around a shared spirit of unity and the passing of light.

Participants walked or ran with torches as a symbol of the Hasmonean legacy and the passing of the flame from generation to generation.

Among its stops was the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.

KKL-JNF’s Photo Archive was set up more than a century ago, and houses approximately 180,000 prints and slides in both colour and black-and-white. It documents Jewish life in Israel from the start of the 20th century, when the region was still a part of the Ottoman empire, to the present.