The president took part in the Menorah-lighting ceremony and delivered a well-received speech about freedom, peppered with light-hearted jokes about Jewish food.
With the formal part of the event over, Obama was mingling with his guests when one of them caught his attention and told him in a booming voice: `Mr President, when I told my Christian friend I was coming to a Hanukah party at the White House, he told me, “I didn`t know the president was Jewish!"`
Suissa, who was standing nearby, wrote that Obama responded to the guest`s quip with a ‘serious belly laugh.’
After three or four seconds, as he was walking away from the crowd, Obama responded: `“I am [Jewish], in my soul."`
The celebration of the Jewish high holy day coincided with the release of Jewish-American Alan Gross from a Cuban prison after five years in captivity.
‘I’m told that in the Jewish tradition, one of the great mitzvahs is "pidyon shvuyim,”’ Obama said in his remarks, drawing applause from the audience.
‘My Hebrew is not perfect, but I get points for trying. But it describes the redemption, the freeing, of captives. And that’s what we’re celebrating today, because after being unjustly held in Cuba for more than five years, American Alan Gross is free.’
The bold statement from the president, who is known to be a practicing Christian, might come as a surprise to some in the Jewish community.
Obama has been roundly criticized over the past six weeks for not being as unconditionally supportive of the State of Israel as his predecessors.
But in 2011, New York magazine proclaimed Obama America`s `first Jewish president.`
Journalist John Heilemann, who wrote the cover story in September 2011, described Obama at the time as `the best thing Israel has going for it right now.`
Standing in the Grand Foyer of the White House decked in sparkling Christmas decorations Wednesday, Obama said: ‘Obviously, the bonds between our two countries are unbreakable.’
For the second year in a row, the president`s annual Hanukkah bash was split into two to accommodate more guests. An afternoon session on the State Floor of the White House was followed by an evening party, where guests mingled with lawmakers.
The tradition of celebrating Hanukkah at the White House was started by George W. Bush in 2001.
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