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Subscribe to RSSPhotographers are always looking for something to make photos of formal ceremonies a little better. The flying hat is just the right touch.
Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images
A gust of wind blows off the hat of Rabbi Levi Shemtov (C), Washington Director, American Friends of Lubavitch, as White House Budget Director Jack Lew and Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, Director, American Friends of Lubavitch, look on during the lighting of the menorah, Dec. 1, 2010 in Washington, DC.
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Any excuse to drink brandy and eggnog works for me.
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/president/holiday/hanukkah/
Does the "Christmas" tree at the White House have a "Billboard" like these bozos have up on that manlift? And notice it is a man only thing there.
This is ridiculous that looks to be a sect advertising their brand of Judaism.
Wack jobs all.
Somebody has to light the thing. Geez. Would you prefer Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis light the menorah to promote the release of Black Swan? If the old dudes want to make it clear who they are and what they're doing during a White House Photo Op, I see no problem with that. Also, Jews don't have competing sects like Christianity and Islam. Each individual Jew can choose to affiliate with any brand of Judaism they choose and nobody really cares. No intra-faith suspicion, wars, suicide bombers, revenge killings, hate speech, etc. Individuals may debate over this or that tradition - but no one branch of Judaism is ever in the business of proselytizing. It is actually against the religious traditions to do so anyway... so your perception of what's going on here is not quite right.
Here in Atlanta, the Christmas madness has gone on since Thanksgiving ended. I finally had to put in a question to one of the local television stations asking when Hanukkah started this year. When I got a response back from the newscaster who was going to ask the question on the air, he told me it would be on the news after the lighting of the second candle, at which point I asked him, "You realize you're late, yes?"
He was rather bemused when he put up the question and answered it, with about 30 seconds of explanation of the holiday, but had it not been for me nudging him, there would probably never have been mention of this holiday (which is a minor one, by the way), just like there hadn't been mention of Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur on the news on this channel for the past 3 years.