Two Chabad-Lubavitch elementary school students held the attention of more than 3,000 people at a Chanukah celebration next to the White House when they were invited to read essays they wrote about the eight-day Festival of Lights means to them.

Chaya Sherman of Cheder Chabad in Philadelphia and Chaya Mushka Turk of the Seymour J. Abrams Cheder Lubavitch in Skokie, Ill., traveled to Washington with their families for the grand celebration at the Ellipse organized by the Washington office of American Friends of Lubavitch.

As part of the evening’s festivities, White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten lit the National Menorah, while the two girls received specially-minted Chanukah medallions and gift certificates to Jewish bookstores. …