DECEMBER 2018 | KISLEV/TEVET 5779
2 DECEMBER 2018 | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | HAPPY CHANUKAH
The doughnut madness: Chanukah in Israel
By Rotem Bar Community shlicha You know how in America you can tell that the holidays are coming even though they are actually not for a few weeks? Whether it’s pumpkin spice everywhere and Halloween decorations that start way before the fall is actually here, or Christmas decorations that are being taken out as soon as Halloween is over? In Israel, the first sign that Chanukah is coming is the “sufganiot,” the Hebrew word for doughnut. Not the dreidels, latkes, or chanukiot, not the chocolate gold coins or Maccabis stories—sufganiot! Like the pumpkins of fall or the eggs of Easter, they are the precursors of Chanukah in Israel. You see, unlike here, doughnuts are not a thing that is sold all year long in Israel. We don’t have doughnut chains such as Dunkin’ Donuts that are spread throughout the country. You have occasional cafés that would sell a doughnut, but they are not as easy to spot. Unless Chanukah is coming! Each year, bakeries and chefs try to rein-
vent the sufgania as if there aren’t enough options as it is. From pistachio and coconut to vodka and cotton candy (I personally like the classic one with jelly and sugar powder), they try to upgrade the sufgania. What new flavors can they make, how they can decorate it differently, or how they can reduce its calories? The sufganiot temptation is everywhere. You have TV specials presenting them, different competitions revolving around them, different pop-ups selling sufganiot. They're in the newspapers, and in all of the supermarkets, workplaces, IDF, and events. You really can’t avoid the sight of them, not to mention the smell of them! So by the time Chanukah comes, you’ve already had seven different sufganiot, because someone told you, “this you must taste” or “you don’t get fat on Chanukah!” But when Chanukah finally arrives in Israel, it really is beautiful. The holiday of light! All the chanukiot on the windows, the finally cold weather, special festivals, and lots of family time all make this time of year so magical. Happy Chanukah!
HAPPY CHANUKAH From the Board & Staff of the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley EVA LEVITT President JERI ZIMMERMAN Interim Executive Director
HAPPY CHANUKAH | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | DECEMBER 2018 3
JDS travels to Israel through virtual reality this Chanukah
JFS to spread Chanukah cheer across Lehigh Valley
By Amy Golding JDS Head of School Today’s Israel is a vibrant kaleidoscope of sights, sounds, tastes, ideas, people, and cultures. Often when teaching Israel, the focus is more on facts and events and less so on the dynamics and intense life that is lived there. The Jewish Day School of the Lehigh Valley was awarded an Israel Community Impact Grant (iCIG) with funding from the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley to create thematic community programs to promote Israel education beyond the classroom. This iCIG explores diversity of people, narratives, cultures and becomes the framework of the story of the Jewish people, connecting JDS families and community to Am Yisrael. The kick-off event, Chanukah Israel ArtsFest, is on Sunday, Dec. 9, at the JDS from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Having first studied in class aspects of Israeli culture, students’ creativity will be brought to life with the creation of collages connecting classroom learning to creativity, which will be displayed around the room in an art gallery format. The event will go from one-dimensional to 3D with a hi-def, 360-degree virtual Israel experience in partnership with Virtually Israel, a non-profit that uses cutting-edge technology to bring Israel to life for anyone who wants to explore the country without flying across the globe. Virtually Israel uses one-of-a-kind virtual reality experiences to showcase Israel’s beautiful sites, including the Dead Sea,
Tel Aviv beaches, hi-tech centers, bustling shuks, and the Tower of David. Community members will experience these videos wearing appropriate virtual reality glasses all from the comfort of the JDS multipurpose room! Rotem Bar, the community shlicha, will be the guest DJ for the night, spinning the latest Israeli music. The evening will be topped off with a kosher Israeli catered dinner by the Sunshine Café . Of course, latkes, dreidels, sufganiyot and more will be part of the Chanukah festivities. This event is open to the community and there will be something for all ages to enjoy. Join JDS for a Chanukah celebration like you've never seen – or tasted – before!
Jewish Family Service has a busy schedule this Chanukah. The first big event is on Nov. 29, when Muhlenberg Hillel will bake cookies for Chanukah-themed goody bags, complete with gelt, dreidels, and cards. Some of the cards were decorated by volunteers and local children, and 20 were beautifully handmade by volunteer Rachel Shurman. The bags will be delivered to over 60 older adults in the Lehigh Valley. In addition to these projects with youth, there will also be outreach to older adults across the Valley. Cantor Ellen Sussman and Susan Wolfson will lead a celebration at Country Meadows on Dec. 3, including a traditional Chanukah meal of brisket, latkes, and chicken soup with matzah balls. On Dec. 4, Karp and Eva Derby will travel to both Kirkland Village and Atria to eat latkes and doughnuts with the residents. Derby will talk about the true miracle of Chanukah and where the tradition of the dreidel game came from. The same day, Leon Zoller will visit the residents of Cedar-
brook. A visit will also be made by Rabbi Moshe Re’em to Phoebe, and Rabbi Allen Juda and JFS 8ish Over 80ish honoree Doris Lifland have organized a Chanukah program for the residents of Moravian Hall Square. Roosevelt Elementary School in Allentown is hosting over 300 students and family members for a global showcase of holidays called “Christmas Around the World” on Dec. 5. Each classroom will feature a different country, and community shlicha Rotem Bar will represent Israel and teach the attendees about Chanukah. Rounding out the extensive programming JFS has organized are two special events on Dec. 7. Karp will host Tikvah House Chanukah Shabbat at her home, and the Jewish Day School choir will perform their annual concert at B’nai B’rith. “It was standing room only last year,” Karp said of the concert. “The residents loved watching the children perform.” Overall, JFS is aiming to make Chanukah a little brighter across the Lehigh Valley this year.
BOOK REVIEW:
‘Dreidels on the Brain’ By Sean Boyle JDS Librarian Joel Ben Izzy’s fictionalized autobiographical novel, Dreidels on the Brain takes place during Chanukah in 1971. Ben Izzy is a world traveled professional storyteller who likes to respond immediately to any new stories that he has heard and loves. But one story has taken 45 years to retell, a story of hope given to him by a Holocaust survivor, and Ben Izzy has kept it to himself, until now. We meet the fictionalized Joel as a 12-year-old boy. After he has spun three Gimels in a row, Joel asks God for a Chanukah miracle, but fears spinning the dreidel for the fourth time. Since his miracle is to spin four consecutive Gimels, Joel realizes he doesn’t want to
waste a true miracle on Gimels when so many other miracles need to occur instead. The reader discovers about many traditions surrounding Chanukah. Filled with amatuer magic tricks and middle school jokes, Joel narrates his family’s struggles through the eight days of Chanukah. We get to experience what it was like to be the only Jewish student in a school located in the “suburbs of the suburbs of Los Angeles.” We hear about Joel’s embarrassment when his principal invites him to bring his family to an all-school assembly to demonstrate their family’s Chanukah traditions. Unfortunately, Joel is ashamed of his family, their economic status and his father’s illness. He is mortified for the school to see them.
4 DECEMBER 2018 | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | HAPPY CHANUKAH
After canceling the assembly and a family crisis, Joel realizes there are better miracles than four Gimels, and with the help of a Holocaust survivor, discovers what is really important in life. Although the book sometimes feels like a 50+- year-old’s memoir about life in 1971, rather than a 12-year-old boy’s experience, it is filled with enough funny explanations and jokes about Jewish life that the reader is able to enjoy the occasional disconnect. Ben Izzy wrote this book to finally share the story he heard on a bus in 1971. As a professional storyteller, he sprinkles the rest of the book with pre-teen embarrassment, jokes, and Jewish anecdotes. Highly recommended for ages 9-99, and a copy is available at the Jewish
Day School Library. Dreidels on the Brain (ben Izzy, Joel, New York, Dial Books for Young Readers, 2016, 320p.)
Good food and good folk at the JCC this Chanukah
Bring your family, friends and lots of holiday spirit to the JCC of the Lehigh Valley’s Chanukah concert with famed folksinger Dave Fry (founder of Lehigh Valley’s own legendary folk club, Godfrey Daniels), and stay for a free community candle lighting and sufganiyot. The JCC will be celebrating the fourth night of Chanukah from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 4. Delight in the season and enjoy live entertainment and family-friendly crafts, as well as your favorite Chanukah treats – latkes, dreidels and more. Please register at the Welcome Desk or online. For more information, please contact Brenda Finberg at bfinberg@lvjcc.org or 610-435-3571. 6:00 pm Concert with Dave Fry 6:30 pm Latkes with toppings and art projects 7:00 pm Candle lighting and sufganiyot Price: $5 per person for the concert and latkes Free: Community candle lighting and sufganiyot (jelly donuts)
5th annual Light Up the Night at PPL Center will unite community to drive out darkness
Four years ago when the PPL Center opened in downtown Allentown, Chabad of the Lehigh Valley took a long-standing holiday tradition and boldly turned it into something even greater. The spot at 7th and Hamilton Streets where a public menorah lighting usually took place had been transformed into the valley’s newest hot spot with the opening of the sports arena in 2014. Embracing the change, a request was made to merge the celebration with the new attraction, and Light Up the Night was born. This year, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms hockey team will once again host the ceremony of lighting of a giant ice sculpture menorah before their game on December 5. And according to Rabbi Yaacov Halperin of Chabad, this year will be more meaningful than ever. “We chose the name ‘Light Up the Night’ to show how a little bit of light defeats a great deal of darkness,” said Hal-
perin. “This year we’ll be defeating more darkness than any other year because of all that happened in Pittsburgh. But what better time than at Chanukah, which is a whole holiday of light, to invite the entire Jewish community to come together and unite with the community at large to see what the miracle of light can do.” Kosher food will be available for purchase, and the menorah will be in the front of the arena for pictures after the game. There will be a PJ Library story at 6 p.m. and a photo opportunity with team mascot meLVin. PJ Library event at 6 p.m. Game against the Cleveland Monsters starts at 7:05 p.m. Cost is $20/ticket, under 2 free. To purchase tickets, visit www.chabadlehighvalley.org or contact the Jewish Federation for the Young Adult Division/PJ Library outing.
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HAPPY CHANUKAH | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | DECEMBER 2018 5
Makes A Great Hanukkah Gift!
How a Chanukah song made its way into the Hebrew translation of Harry Potter
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Gili Bar-Hillel with her Hebrew-language version of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” one of the four Harry Potter books she translated, in her Tel Aviv office. By Josefin Dolsten Jewish Telegraphic Agency If you read the “Harry Potter” series in Hebrew you may have noticed a curious Jewish fact: Though Sirius Black isn’t Jewish, the character sings a Chanukah song in one scene. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hebrew translator Gili Bar Hillel reveals some behind-the-scenes tidbits about her “Harry Potter” translation process. In the original English version, Black parodies a Christmas song, “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentleman,” but Bar Hillel felt that wouldn’t resonate with Israeli readers. Instead, she referenced a well-known Chanukah song, “Mi Yimallel (Gvurot Yisrael)” so that Jewish readers
would be able to relate. “There were fans who ridiculed this and said that I was trying to convert Harry to Judaism, but really the point was just to convey the cheer and festivity of making up words to a holiday song,” she said. “I don’t think any of the characters come off as obviously Christian, other than in a vague sort of cultural way, so I didn’t feel it was a huge deal if I substituted one seasonal holiday for another!” That wasn’t Bar Hillel’s only translation dilemma. She struggled with finding the right phrase for “Pensieve,” a contain-
er used to store memories. After weeks of thinking, she came up with the term “Hagigit.” The phrase is “a portmanteau of ‘hagig’ — a fleeting idea — and ‘gigit’ — a washtub,” Bar Hillel said. It doesn’t seem like author J.K. Rowling would mind the liberties Bar Hillel took. The British author has recently become a vocal critic of antiSemitism, using Twitter to call out people peddling anti-Jewish arguments. Her latest book even includes a villain whose obsessive hatred of Zionism turns into anti-Semitism.
Celeriac and potato latkes with cider sour cream BY CHRISTIAN GONZALEZ Christian Gonzalez will be one of three celebrity judges at the Latke-Vodka Hanukkah Cook-Off on Dec. 13. We asked him to give us his own take on latkes, and he invites you to try the recipe below. Born in Valparaiso, Chile, Gonzalez graduated from Northampton Community College, worked at both Savory Grille and The Hamilton Kitchen and Bar, and is now the executive chef at The Shelby. LATKES INGREDIENTS: Yield: about 2 dozen 5 large potatoes, grated 1 celeriac root, medium size, grated fine 1 small sweet onion, minced 2 eggs, beaten 1 ½ cup seasoned mashed potatoes Salt and pepper to taste ½ cup vegetable oil for frying TECHNIQUE: Peel the potatoes and celeriac. Grate them. Mince the onion and add it to the potato mix. Beat two eggs and whip them into the seasoned mashed potatoes. Adjust salt and pepper for seasoning. Squeeze the potatoes and celeriac to get out some of the water in them. Add the grated potato mix to the mashed potato. Portion and fry. Season if needed. CIDER SOUR CREAM INGREDIENTS: Yield: 1 ½ cups 1 quart local apple cider 1 cinnamon stick 1 cup sour cream TECHNIQUE: Place cider in a sauce pot with cinnamon and reduce until you have ½ cup. Cool cider and mix with sour cream.
6 DECEMBER 2018 | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | HAPPY CHANUKAH
Israel and US postal services issue joint Hanukkah stamp
Jewish Telegraphic Agency Israel Post and the U.S. Postal Service have issued a joint stamp for Hanukkah. The stamp also is meant to celebrate 70 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and the United States, Israel Post said in a statement. The new stamp design was launched simultaneously in the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, the oldest synagogue in the United States, and at the American Center in Jerusalem. “Today’s joint stamp issue is a symbol of the shared values and the cultural affinity between the United States and Israel,” U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said at the Jerusalem ceremony. Postal Service Judicial Officer Gary Shapiro said in Rhode Island: “Starting today, this work of art celebrating the Jewish Festival of Lights
will travel on millions of letters and packages, throughout America and around the world.” The stamp art features a Hanukkah menorah created using the technique of papercutting, a Jewish folk art, by artist Tamar Fishman. Behind the menorah is a shape that resembles an ancient oil jug representing the miracle of the oil that burned in the candelabra in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem after its sacking and recapture for the eight days necessary to resupply. Additional design elements include dreidels and a pomegranate plant with fruit and flowers. The stamp is being issued in the United States as a Forever stamp, which will always be equal in value to the current first class mail one-ounce price. It will sell in Israel for 8.30 shekels, the cost of a regular first-class stamp. Hanukkah begins at sundown on Dec. 2. The first joint U.S.-Israel Hanukkah postal stamp was issued in 1996.
Yam Latkes BY SANDI TEPLITZ
After a friend gave me a bottle of macadamia oil, I created this delicious variation on the traditional Chanukah pancake. It's quite tasty and has received favorable comments from friends. INGREDIENTS: 2 c. peeled and finely grated yams 1 1/4 T. unbleached flour 2 extra large eggs 1/4 c. grated scallions, white part only salt, pepper, grated mace and cinnamon to taste 1/4 c. macadamia oil honey 1/2 c. Hawaiian macadamia nuts, finely chopped TECHNIQUE: Mix first five ingredients together in a large bowl. Fry in small batches in the hot oil, five minutes per side, flattening as necessary to brown evenly. Serve hot with drizzled honey and macadamia nuts. Yield: 8 regular size or 16 mini latkes HAPPY CHANUKAH | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | DECEMBER 2018 7
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