This is a photograph of Predrag Perisic standing next to a lit Chanukiya (Chanukah menorah). The photograph was taken in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina) in 1956 when Predrag was four years old. His mother, Rahela, wrote in her biography that he lit the candles and “felt very honored and important.” All of the candles of the chanukiya are lit, indicating that the photograph was taken on the eighth day of Chanukah. The metal chanukiya is decorated with lions and appears to be burning oil.
Predrag’s mother, Rahela Perisic, was Jewish; his father, Ilija Perisic, was non-Jewish Serbian. Predrag received his Jewish education from his maternal grandparents who lived in Sarajevo and celebrated Jewish holidays with Predrag and his siblings. In their home, Rahela and Ilija did not celebrate either Jewish or Serbian holidays. Today, Predrag and his brother and sister are all involved with the Jewish community. Rahela was born in 1922 in the town of Sanski where there was a relatively large Jewish community. Her family spoke Ladino, which is a Judeo-Spanish language spoken in the Balkans. During Rahela’s childhood, her family moved several times to communities with very small Jewish populations; at times, they were the only Jewish family in town. For this reason, the family often traveled to neighbouring towns to spend the Jewish holidays with their extended family. Rahela’s favourite holiday was Chanukah, and she recalls lighting the chanukiya. When Rahela and her sister started secondary school, they were living in a town that didn’t have a school, so they were sent to live with relatives in a larger town where there was a Jewish community. Rahela joined a Jewish youth group and learned Hebrew. World War II broke out in Bosnia when she was in secondary school. The family was separated during the war – some fighting with the partisans, others in hiding – but were reunited after the war. Rahela was later decorated for her heroic work saving children during the war.
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The Jewish Community of Bosnia – The Jewish community in Bosnia was first founded by Sephardi Jews who had been expelled from Spain. Bosnia was under Ottoman rule at the time, and the Jews were welcomed to the country. The first Ashkenazi Jews arrived from Hungary at the end of the seventeenth century. The community prospered and lived peacefully with their Muslim neighbours. A famous figure in the community was Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai, known as a proto-Zionist who lay the ideological foundations for the Zionist movement of the nineteenth century. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Bosnia became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Despite bringing another influx of Ashkenazi Jews to the country, most of the community remained Sephardi, speaking Ladino and observing specific Sephardi traditions. With the post-World War I collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire , Bosnia was included in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Jews continued to prosper. Before World War II and the Nazi occupation of the country, there were approximately 20,000 Jews in Bosnia, most of whom lived in Sarajevo. In 1941 Bosnia was controlled by Croatia, which was governed by an anti-Semitic political party. In September 1941 deportations of Jews began, mostly to Auschwitz or to concentration camps in Croatia. By the end of World War II, 10,000 Bosnian Jews had been murdered. Despite this huge number, it is important to note that many Bosnians helped the Jews; in fact, 42 Bosnians were honoured by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. The Jewish community was revived after the Holocaust, but most of the survivors chose to immigrate to Israel. The Bosnian War of the 1990s also affected the Jewish community. Throughout the war the Sarajevo Jewish Humanitarian Society, La Benevolencija, supported thousands of people of all religions, providing food, medicine, medical aid, and radio communication. La Benevolencija also organised the evacuation of Sarajevo residents (only a third of them Jewish) with the help of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Today, with the independence of Bosnia, the Jewish community numbers around 1,000. Community life is centred around La Benevolencija, which runs a community centre and a synagogue.
Chanuka - Chanuka celebrates the rededication of the Temple by Judah the Maccabee and his army after their victory over the Greeks in 165 BCE. One of the well-known miracles of the Chanukah story is the small portion of oil that was able to light the Menorah in the Temple and burn for eight nights. Chanukah begins on 25 Kislev and is celebrated by lighting a Chanukiya for eight nights. It is also traditional to eat fried foods (to symbolise the oil) and play with spinning tops known as dreidles.
Chanukiya - A chanukiya is the special menorah (candelabra) that is lit on the holiday of Chanukah. Candles are lit to commemorate the miracle of the oil, which despite being enough to last for only one day, miraculously lasted for eight days. The chanukiyah is lit every night of the eight-day festival with an additional candle being added each day, so that by the last night, all eight are lit. Chanukiyot are traditionally placed in the window or by the door of the house in order to publically proclaim the Chanukah miracle. Ideally it is lit with oil, preferably olive oil, but candles are also permissible and are more common nowadays. The chanukiyah is often wrongly called a menora, which was the seven-branched candelabra lit as part of the daily worship in the temple. The chanukiya, however, has nine branches, one for each of the days of Chanukah and one for the shamash, the candle which is used to light the others.
