Three thousand members of the Maccabi Sports Union today enacted the traditional, Chanukah “Modiin Torch” ceremony, lighting a torch at the Modiin burial site of the Hasmonean Dynasty, which had given birth to the Maccabean revolt, then carrying the torch throughout all of Israel. The ceremony, always held on the eve of the Chanukah festival, which started Tuesday evening, had been delayed by heavy rainstorms that swept the entire country.
Israeli Maccabi runners carried the torch lighted at Modiin by relays to Ramleh and Rehovot, where they halted at the grave of the late Dr. Chaim Welzmann, Israel’s first President. Then other torches, lighted from the original Modiin flame, were taken to Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Beersheba and Eilat. In each town, the torch was received with ceremonies in which the mayors and local sports organization participated.
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