Rabbi Levi Shemtov at National Menorah Lighting
Rabbi Levi Shemtov at National Menorah LightingReuters

The rabbi leading the National Menorah Lighting ceremony in Washington DC Sunday criticized President Barack Obama for allowing the passage of an anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council, the Washington Examiner reported.

“I know that some of us are so sad at what happened there with regard to Israel,” Rabbi Levi Shemtov, an executive at the American Friends of Lubavitch, said of the UN vote.

“We must remember that the way to counter any darkness, any disappointment is not with harsh rhetoric, not with anger, but when we create light, the darkness dissipates.” he said.

Adam Szubin, an acting undersecretary at the Department of Treasury, represented the Obama Administration at the candle-lighting ceremony.

“Secretary Szubin spoke before of fighting darkness with light … I remember those words being spoken to a particular man by the Rebbe [Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson] many many years ago on Simchat Torah,” Rabbi Shemtov told the attendees of the ceremony.

"The Rebbe told him you are working in a place where there is great grief and darkness, but remember that in that place of darkness, you can only counter it by lighting a candle. By creating light. … That man was Benjamin Netanyahu, and he was at the time the ambassador to the United Nations,” Rabbi Shemtov added.