Chabad Houses across Paris and its suburban environs are preparing for outdoor Chanukah menorah-lightings just weeks after terror attacks killed more than 120 people throughout the city.

“There will be public menorah-lighting celebrations all around Paris, including the giant menorah-lighting event at the Eiffel Tower on Sunday night—the first night of the eight-day holiday,” announced Rabbi Chaim Shneur Nisenbaum of the Complexe Scolaire Beth Haya Moushka school system in Paris. The chief rabbi of France, Rabbi Haim Korsia, will be there, in addition to the president of Jewish institutions in France, members of the local city councils and representatives from the French government.

A 30-foot menorah will be lit by Rabbi Korsia at the base of the Eiffel Tower, with nearly 6,000 people expected to attend.

While that may have led to talk that the public menorah-lighting celebrations would be canceled—social media was rampant with such rumors earlier this week—the rabbis insist that it’s even more important that life go on as usual, especially when it comes to Chanukah.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to turn out for the more than 30 different public menorah-lightings across the city and in nearby towns. To that end, ads have been taken out in the four national newspapers about the observances of the eight-day holiday, and more than 500 billboards appear throughout Paris as part of Chabad-Lubavitch’s Chanukah awareness program there.

(Source: Chabad.org)