Survivors fleeing Nazi terror first returned to the Ukrainian capital and lit Chanukah candles • Initiative event: "Real light comes on in Kiev"

• Photo: Community tradition

Holocaust survivors fleeing Ukraine from Nazi terror have recently closed a circle, taking part in candle lighting in the city of Kiev, as part of a candle lighting initiated by Irena Grivskaya, the new rabbi of Ramat Aviv, the traditional movement. The survivors, who have not arrived in the country since the Holocaust, came to the city on the occasion of Chanukah with their families and were excited about the candle lighting status.

Before the Holocaust, some 110,000 Jews lived in Kiev. Most of the Jews living in the city were killed, but many managed to escape the Nazis. Grivskaya says her husband's grandfather fled the last train from Kiev, but his great-grandmother stayed there and was murdered.

The candles were lit last Sunday in a downtown neighborhood where many poor Jews lived. Today, almost no Jews live there. "Real light is on in Kiev," Grivskaya said. "70 years after the Holocaust, the Conservative Jewish community returns to Kiev to celebrate Chanukah. We stand here in the frost, outside, proud of being who we are. We stay here.