Hanukkah
Evokes Memories of Childhood BY KAREN NEEDLE
Hanukkah, Hanakah, Chanukah — however you spell it, it's a wonderful holiday, full of history, traditions, celebrations and memories. The basic story is that Hanukkah celebrates the Jewish people's victory over the SyrianGreek superpower in the second century BCE, during the time of the Second Holy Temple. It also celebrates the miracle of a small amount of oil that lasted eight days after the Jews went to clean the Holy Temple, and there was only enough oil to light the holy menorah for one day. It also is known as the Festival of Lights. It is observed for eight days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev, according to the Hebrew calendar. In 2020, Hanukkah begins the evening of Dec. 10 and ends Dec. 18. On each of these eight evenings, we light a menorah to commemorate the miraculous Jewish victory 2,000 years ago. Some common Karen is pictured here (far right) with her siblings Jeff, Merryl and Larry circa 1956. In the background is the Star of David built by her dad.
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AROUND CANTON | December 2020
