This year the Jewish festival of Chanukah falls at the same time as Christmas.
Chanukah is a holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt in Second Century B.C. It is observed for eight days and nights and is a festival of lights.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, an organisation founded in 1760 to represent the British Jewish community, held a reception in Parliament which was attended by the Home Secretary Amber Rudd MP and a cross Party group of MP’s, as well as the ITV journalist Robert Peston. I attended to support the event, and I also attended a lunch earlier in the day at which the Prime Minister Theresa May spoke about cracking down on a worrying increase in anti-Semitism seen in this country recently.