Jewish town makes menorah of terror rockets

Yeshivat Hesder Sderot students atop the Hesder's Beit Midrash watching the candles from their menorah, made entirely of Qassam rockets (Courtesy David Cohen, Yeshivat Hesder Sderot)

JERUSALEM – Jewish residents of a rocket-battered city outside the Gaza Strip every day this week lit a Hanukkah menorah fashioned out of hollowed Palestinian Qassam rockets that had been shot at their town.

"This is a symbol to our enemies that despite thousands of rockets fired at Sderot, our spirit has not broken. We are here to stay," said Josh Hasten, spokesman for Yeshivat Hesder Sderot, a Jewish school that combines Torah study with army service.

Sderot, a city of almost 20,000 residents, is less then a mile from the Gaza Strip. More than 10,000 rockets have been fired at Jewish population centers there during the last eight years.

The rocketing increased exponentially after Hamas seized control of Gaza following Israel's retreat from the territory in 2005.

Since the start of Hanukkah last Friday, the yeshiva has been lighting a menorah on the roof of its building made of Qassam rockets obtained from a local police station that had collected the fallen projectiles. The menorah is visible from most of Sderot.

Sderot Chief of Police Shimon Nachmani on the roof of the Hesder Yeshiva in Sderot lights the Hanukkah candles on a menorah made entirely of Qassam rockets (Courtesy David Cohen, Yeshivat Hesder Sderot)

Hanukkah is an eight-day holiday commemorating the rededication of the Jewish Temple at the time of the Maccabean revolt.

During the rededication, Jerusalem was under siege, and there was very little oil left that had not been defiled by the Greeks. Oil was needed to fuel the Temple's menorah, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night.

There was only enough oil to burn for one day. However, according to tradition, the Temple's menorah burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of fuel.