Sebastian Scheiner / AP
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men gather at a yeshiva, a rabbinical seminary, during Purim celebrations in Jerusalem, on Monday. The Jewish holiday of Purim commemorates the Jews' salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Book of Esther which is read in synagogues.
Abir Sultan / EPA
An Ultra Orthodox Jewish mother decorates a new born baby with silver jewelry in a silver bowl for the pidyon haben (redemption of the first born son) ritual ceremony in Bnei Brak, Israel, on Dec. 27. Pidyon haben is an ancient Jewish custom in Judaism whereby a Jewish firstborn son is redeemed by use of silver coins from his birth-state of sanctity at the age of 30 days.
Previously on PhotoBlog:
Abir Sultan / EPA
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish boy lights the third Hanukkah candle inside his house during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood, on Dec. 10. Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is one of the most important Jewish holidays and is celebrated by Jews worldwide during eight days to commemorate the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BC.
Ammar Awad / Reuters
Ultra-Orthodox Jews light candles during Hanukkah in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood Dec. 10.
Abir Sultan / EPA
Ultra-Orthodox Jews light the second Hanukkah candle and pray in a Yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution for Talmud and Torah studies, during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, in Jerusalem on Dec. 9.
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Robert Pratta / Reuters
As temperatures drop and snow begins to fall, take a look at beautiful light displays from around the globe.
Keith Bedford / Reuters
Rabbis from the Chabad-Lubavitch movement of Judaism pose for a group photograph as part of a convention of nearly 3,000 rabbis from around the world in the Brooklyn Borough of New York, November 11, 2012.
Keith Bedford / Reuters
Dan Herrick / Zuma Press
Baz Ratner / Reuters
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men dance during Simhat Torah celebrations in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood on Oct. 8, 2012. Simchat Torah celebrates the the new cycle of reading the Torah, the Jewish holy scrolls used in every synagogue.
Abir Sultan / EPA
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man is reflected on the wall while watching the celebration of Simchat Torah at the close of the sukkot holiday in Mea Shearim in Jerusalem, Oct. 8.
Abir Sultan / EPA
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish child watches men dance during Simhat Torah celebrations in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood on Oct. 8.
Abir Sultan / EPA
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man holds a Torah scroll to celebrate Simhat Torah at the close of the Sukkot holiday in Mea Shearim. Jerusalem, Oct. 8.
Darren Whiteside / Reuters
A man walks along an empty street in Jerusalem during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur on Sept. 26.
Oliver Weiken / EPA
Israelis ride bikes on an empty motorway during Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv, on Sept. 26.
Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, is the holiest of Jewish holidays, when observant Jews atone for the sins of the past year. Traffic is not allowed during the 25-hour long period.
Baz Ratner / Reuters
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from the Vizhnitz Hasidic dynasty pray next to a plastic pool containing fish as they perform the Tashlich ritual outside their synagogue in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv on Sept. 24. Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, starts at sundown Tuesday. Tashlich is a ritual of casting away sins of the past year into the water.
Uriel Sinai / Getty Images
A youth looks on to the sea as Ultra-Orthodox Jews perform the Tashlich ritual on Sept. 24 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Tashlich, which means 'to cast away', is the practice by which Jews go to a flowing body of water and symbolically 'throw away' their sins during the days of repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the upcoming Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins this Tuesday evening.
--Reported by Getty Images
Amir Cohen / Reuters
Ultra-Orthodox Jews pray as they perform the Tashlich ritual near shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the southern city of Ashdod on Sept. 24. Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, starts at sundown Tuesday.
Ariel Schalit / AP
Laser beams that create the image of a large Hanukkah menorah are projected on the Hiriya landfill, a former waste disposal site, now called the Ariel Sharon Park, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on the second eve of Hanukkah, Dec. 21, 2011. The Jewish festival of light, an eight-day commemoration of the Jewish uprising in the second century B.C. against the Greek-Syrian kingdom, which had tried to put statues of Greek gods in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, started Tuesday.
Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew, second from right, is assisted by Rabbi Levi Shemtov, second from left, and Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, right, as they light the National Hanukkah Menorah during a ceremony on The Ellipse in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011 marking the first night of Hanukkah.
By msnbc.com staff
Jews around the world on Tuesday night began celebrating Hanukkah, the eight-day Festival of Llights.
It has nothing to do with Christmas, it's just celebrated around the same time.
Known as the Festival of Lights, it's to remember another miracle which dates back thousands of years.
Hanukkah began after a war for religious freedom between the Jewish people and the Greeks.
The small Jewish army won but not after their temple was defiled, leaving just a small can of oil that also miraculously provided eight days of light.
Rabbi Kalman Winnick of Congregation Agudath Achim in Little Rock, Ark., told NBC station KARK, "To this day we remember the miracle of the oil as well as the miracle of the few defeating the mighty, as well as the miracle of people caring enough about their faith to struggle for it.”
Around the world, as sunset arrived, Jews in their homes and in community-wide ceremonies lit the first candle on menorahs, the nine-candle holders used for lighting first a special candle, and using that candle to light a candle noting each night of the holiday.
In Washington, D.C., Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew helped lead the lighting of the National Hanukkah Menorah at The Ellipse. Similar ceremonies were held at Trafalgar Square in London and Jerusalem, Israel.
Luke Macgregor / Reuters
Crowd members join in for the Jewish festival of Hanukkah in Trafalgar Square in London, Dec. 20, 2011.
Mehdi Fedouach / AFP - Getty Images
A giant screen shows an image of Lubavitcher Rabbi Menahem Mendel Schneerson during the first day of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, on December 20, 2011 at the Champs de Mars in Paris.
Odd Andersen / AFP - Getty Images
Rabbis Yehuda Teichtal (R) and Shmuel Segal of the Jewish education centre inaugurate the Chanukkah lights in front of Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Dec. 20, 2011.
Bela Szandelszky / AP
Members of Hungary's Orthodox Jewish community dance on the street while celebrating the beginning of the Hanukkah Festival in downtown Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011.
Abir Sultan / EPA
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish family as they lights a candle for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood, Israel, Dec. 20, 2011.
Abir Sultan / EPA
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man lights the candles outside his house during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood, Israel, Dec. 20, 2011.
Previous images of Hanukkah on PhotoBlog.
Jim Hollander / EPA
An ultra Orthodox Jewish boy peers through a curtain as a butcher takes hold of a chicken before the bird is slaughtered as part of the Kapparot ceremony in Jerusalem, Israel on Oct. 5. Kapparot begins by reciting a prayer and then spinning the bird over their head to release the sins accumulated over the past year, ahead of the high-holiday of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. After the Kapparot ritual is performed, the bird is slaughtered and donated to charity.
The Kapparot Jewish festival happens every year just before Yom Kippur. As part of the tradition, a person's sins are transferred to a chicken during a ceremony. Afterwards, the slaughtered chicken is donated to the poor.
Israeli troops escorted buses with Jewish worshippers to Joseph's tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus early on July 4, Reuters reported. The pilgrimage was made in coordination with the Palestinian forces that control Nablus to let Jews pray on the day when it is believed Joseph died, at the site believed to be the burial place of the biblical patriarch.
Uriel Sinai / Getty Images
Jewish worshippers pray outside Joseph's Tomb as hundreds of faithful mark the anniversary of the biblical Joseph's death, on July 4 in the West Bank town of Nablus.
Uriel Sinai / Getty Images
Jewish worshippers pray outside Joseph's Tomb on July 4.
Uriel Sinai / Getty Images
Jewish worshippers pray at Joseph's Tomb on July 4.
Nir Elias / Reuters
A Jewish worshipper prays outside Joseph's Tomb early on July 4.
Menahem Kahana / AFP - Getty Images
Orthodox Jewish women and settlers pray at the Tomb of Joseph, a biblical figure from the book of Genesis, in the northern Palestinian West Bank city of Nablus, on May 3. A few hundred religious Jews were allowed by the Israeli army to enter the Palestinian territory, in a heavily guarded convoy, to pray at the shrine.
Menahem Kahana / AFP - Getty Images
An ultra-nationalist Israeli settler is arrested by Israeli border policemen at the Tomb of Joseph on May 3 after dozens of settlers illegally entered.
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