Hakol - Chanukah 2022

Dreidel, bingo, prizes, donuts will all be part of JDS party

By Joanna Powers Jewish Day School Hebrew & Judaics Director

The calendar could not have been better to the students at the Jewish Day School this year: we get to spend five whole days of Cha nukah partying and celebrating at school!

We are also extra lucky to have a bigger team than ever working on the festivities, including Morah Adi Gabay, our Hebrew teacher, who loves the holidays; Ariel Solo mon, our coordinator of integrated Jewish learning, who shares with us Israeli and Canadian traditions; and Eynav Dahan, our community shlicha, who brings the excite ment and warmth of Chanukah that she is spreading throughout the Lehigh Valley right to our door! Very soon our excellent student council will unveil top-secret holiday plans to their constituents.

Our Chanukah mornings start with an im mersive environment of joy. Holiday music will pour through the overhead system, the lobby and hallways will be adorned with bright decorations, and our big school meno rah (or chanukiah, to be precise), as well as an inflatable one, will shine their greetings as the children enter.

At the start of prayers, the cha nukiah will be lit and songs will be sung.

All week, lunchtime will be the center of school-wide activities. Mr. Ariel will be

playing Israeli dreidel and candle games, leading Chanukah-themed Hebrew yoga, and chal lenging the students to guess how many pieces of chocolate gelt are in a big jar. The students who guess the closest number to the right answer win the gelt for their class.

There will also be plen ty of prizes for the Chanu kah bingo champions. We will use our artistic talents to decorate tasty sufganiyot (donuts) as a special dessert. The highlight of our week will be the JDS Community Chanukah Party, in partnership with PJ Library, at 5:30 p.m. on December 21, featuring a homemade dreidel pinata. Just like the traditional jelly donuts, our JDS Chanukah will be jam-packed.

And we’re growing potatoes to make latkes!

JFS takes Chanukah to long-term care residents

Jewish Family Service will be taking Chanukah celebrations to long-term care facilities throughout the Lehigh Valley. These celebrations of the Festival of Lights will include sharing the story of Cha nukah, lighting the candles and enjoying holiday treats.

The participating facilities are long-term-care res idences that make programming for Jewish commu nity life a priority. They are B’nai B’rith Apartments, Country Meadows Allentown, Country Meadows Bethlehem, Country Meadows Forks, Legend of Allentown, Luther Crest, Moravian Square Hall, Phoebe and Traditions of Hanover.

JFS thanks Rabbi Seth Phillips, Rabbi Michael Singer, Howard Nathanson, Vickie Semmel, Eva Derby and Leon Zoller for taking the programs to the facilities.

Don’t be jelly of our sufganiyot!

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By Shira Yacker Special to Hakol

Chanukah is quickly approach ing. The Festival of Lights, as it is also called, is a beautiful time of year when we celebrate miracles big and small. Although it is not considered a very religious holiday, it is deeply rooted in tradition and in the biggest miracle of all: family.

Most of us know the story of Cha nukah, how the Maccabees fought the Seleucid empire to regain the Temple in Jerusalem and how the lamp oil lasted for eight days, even though it wasn’t supposed to last for one. This battle was fought for the purposes of religious freedom, which many people are still struggling with today. We never want to forget the importance of these aspects of the story, and it should continue to be passed down to all future generations.

We all celebrate this holiday based on the story of the Jewish people getting the Temple back by lighting candles in a special menorah called a chanukiah, eating latkes and spinning the dreidel. But families all over the world do things a little differently, and it is a beautiful thing for us all to embrace our own traditions while learning about the traditions of others in the hopes of add ing something new to the celebration of this beautiful holiday.

I have always been curious as to what others do to celebrate Cha nukah, knowing about only the traditions in my own family. In my family, growing up, we would

light the candles each night, sing the blessings and then sing a few Chanukah songs before open ing gifts. Everyone in the family had their own chanukiah to light and the kitchen would glow. Now we have a Chanukah party each year and invite friends and family. We serve traditional foods such as latkes and donuts (sufganiyot), light the candles together and sing the blessings. Last year, my husband decided that he wanted to have a chanukiah for each family that attends our party (whether or not they are Jewish). People were so touched by this that we are going to continue this new tradition each year.

Other people have told me about amazing tra ditions that are part of their holiday celebrations. Some send cards to all family and friends. Some have Chanukah stockings for small gifts for their children. Others like to buy Chanukah pajamas to give to their kids as their gift on the first night. Each night thereafter, the kids pick which gift they’d like to open, so everyone is surprised.

One family hides the gifts for their children to find. They make family recipes, such as cheese

latkes, that have been passed down through generations. Another family, vegans, have worked on perfecting family recipes for Chanukah treats to fit a vegan diet. They are keeping their family traditions alive without sacrific ing something important to them.

In some communities, people go house hopping. Each family hosts a party during the eight days, so if you didn’t see someone at one person’s house, you’ll probably see them at someone else’s later in the week. They say it’s lovely to see the traditions on display at other houses.

Playing dreidel is a big part of the celebration. Some people gamble choco late candy coins (gelt) or real money on the symbol representing “a great miracle happened there” (neis gadol haiya sham).

There is no wrong way to celebrate Chanukah. Maybe you read about something here that you want to incor porate into your own family traditions, or maybe this will inspire you to create new ones.

Whatever you do to cel ebrate, enjoy everything that comes with the Festival of Lights, the miracles and, of course, family tradition.

Shira Yacker, originally from Philadelphia, relocated to the Lehigh Valley in 2004. She and her husband live in Palmer Township and have a daughter in law school. Shari teaches special education in the Pen Argyl School Dis trict and previously taught Hebrew school at several synagogues in the Philadelphia area and in Easton for about 25 years.

SHLICHA’S VIEW WITH EYNAV DAHAN

The Holiday of All Holidays

December is truly a magical month. When I ask someone what their favorite holiday is, the answer is usually Christmas or Chanukah — both in December.

Israel is, of course, a Jewish country, but the major religions are represented. Haifa, a large city in northern Israel that’s considered a mixed city (a

city with many religions and not one majority), started a tradition a few years ago called the Holiday of All Holidays. The festival celebrates three religions: Judaism (Chanukah), Christianity (Christmas) and Islam (Ramadan and Eid-alFitr).

The festival draws people from all over Israel to see the lights and decorations,

eat traditional food from the different cultures, and watch the shows and parades.

I live 40 minutes from Haifa, so every year my family and I go to this festival. We love celebrating our tradition and seeing how it is mixed so beautifully with the others. Seeing the similarities among the holidays is uplifting, a reminder that no matter

where you come from or what religion you are part of, we are all much the same. All of us like to see bright lights, listen to music and celebrate life!

This, and the beginning of the Israeli winter, are the reasons December is my favorite month.

I am Jewish (IAJ) is a youth enrichment program for 10th-12th graders in the Lehigh Valley.

The group will meet two Mondays per month. The first session is January 9, 2023 6:30 p.m. Temple Beth El Registration: $180

regfox.com/iaj-youth-pro gram-january-2023

Our kids know about our Chanukah gift budget

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

In our home, the Ama zon catalog is a useful tool to help my children, ages 10 and 7, get a sense of what they might want for Hanuk kah. We tend to limit gifts for our kids throughout the year in favor of making the holi day a special one for them.

My more judicious elder child carefully analyzes each page and marks off a handful of items, while my younger one might as well draw a giant circle on the cover to indicate he wants every product listed within the thick booklet. Regardless of how many things each of my children desire, I want them to understand our fam ily has a budget, and that, like anything else we choose to invest in, we need to be mindful about our spend ing and think about what is

best for all of us. Like many families, we have a number of required expenses that need to come before spend ing in other areas, including Hanukkah gifts.

Early on, my husband and I tried to instill in our children mindfulness around material possessions. This has meant enduring many tantrums over our refusal to buy them some random toy we knew they would just toss out the next day. During Hanukkah time, we take our kids’ interests into account and give them gifts within our budget. This means we don’t get them everything they want. For the most part, our kids don’t com plain about the amount of gifts they get, as we also try to instill in them a sense of gratitude.

Of course, our kids weren’t born knowing about

things like budgets and spending, and as they grow up, helping them understand these concepts is very im portant in our family. The el ementary years are also when children start learning about currency, and monetary lit eracy becomes an important part of their math education. At home, many kids this age receive an allowance and can begin thinking about how to use their own money. My kids will ask me to buy them something, to which I will often reply by telling them to use their own money. It is amazing how disinterested in something they become when their own cash is on the line.

Though we do our best to help our kids understand the value of spending wisely and being grateful for the gifts they receive, we are up against enormous so

cietal pressure to get our children as many gifts as possible. Many of us have kids whose classmates and friends celebrate Christmas and are showered with gifts, putting even more pressure on Jewish parents to help our kids “fit in.” There is no denying the massive influ ence of Christmas culture on Jewish kids and their fami lies. However, I learned long ago to avoid competing with Christmas and instead make the focus of Hanukkah family togetherness, Jewish pride and passing on the tradi tions of lighting the menorah, eating latkes and playing dreidel.

While some may feel hon esty about who buys the gifts may take away from the joy of the holiday, I do not envy my Christmas celebrating friends whose kids believe Santa is responsible for their

presents. Instead of stressing over how to give our kids ev erything they want, and hav ing to explain why a mythi cal being couldn’t get them their dream gift, I can just be upfront with my kids about what we can and can’t afford. I also talk to them about the importance of giving back to others, and part of our family budget goes toward mon etary and physical donations to local and national causes we support.

By encouraging mindful ness in their gift choices, and consideration of others who may not be as fortunate, I hope my kids learn that Hanukkah is more than a holiday for getting presents. It is a time for being with family, honoring tradition and celebrating Jewish pride.

RABBI STEVE NATHAN

Lehigh University Hillel

When I started training as a rabbi in the late 1980s, and when I started my professional career as a rabbi in the mid-1990s, one of the main con cerns of the Jewish community was the December Dilemma for interfaith couples. How were they going to deal with the approaching December holidays of Christmas and Chanukah with their children?

Do they expose them to both religions and teach that they celebrate both? Do they teach that one holiday (hopefully Chanukah) is really “their” holiday, because they’re part of a Jewish fam ily, and that Christmas is simply what the “other relatives” celebrate; we should respect and even celebrate when we go to their homes, but it’s not really “our” holiday. Or do we simply teach that we celebrate Chanukah and that Christmas is a

Christian holiday that has been secularized and commercialized in America? Or is there another way to approach the dilemma?

Back in those days I was working with inter faith families that primarily identified as Jewish and were raising their children as Jews, so the second approach above was the one that I usually recommended. After all, they didn’t want to of fend non-Jewish family members, but they should remember that they really celebrate Chanukah.

Since then I have grown to look at December as an opportunity and not inherently as a dilemma. Yes, there are challenges in creating an interfaith family, but we don’t have to look at it as a dilem ma. Rather, we can look at December as a way to help children and adults explore their relationship not only to Chanukah, but also to their Judaism and what it means to be a part of a Jewish com munity.

This made me think of my Jewish upbringing not far away in Scranton and how my Jewish par ents handled December. Growing up, we attended services together almost every Shabbat morning and had Shabbat dinner with various relatives al most every week of the year. It may have included going out for lunch after services before my father went to work for a few hours. But it was still Shab bos.

That is not what many would consider a “tradi tional Jewish upbringing.” But for me it was. What some might view as contradictions never really confused me. The same could be said of the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. During those weeks, up until a certain age, I always went downtown to one of the local department stores and sat on Santa’s lap. I can’t tell you how many photos I have of me, as well as of my two much older sisters, doing just that. I would tell Santa what I wanted. I would hang up a stocking on Christmas Eve. This was followed by going for an early dinner to our favorite Italian restaurant, which my parents went to on their first date in 1946 (we did Chinese food on New Year’s Eve). Then we would drive around looking at the Christ mas lights while singing along with the Christmas carols on the radio. We knew all the lyrics because back in those days, they were all taught in the public schools.

In the morning there was a present by the fireplace (we did not go so far as to have a tree!). But here’s the strange thing: I was never confused. There was no dilemma in my household. I knew that

this was all a fun game for us. I didn’t be lieve in Jesus. I didn’t believe in Christmas. At a fairly young age I realized that Santa was not real, and even if he was, he was not Jewish! It was just a fun thing to do. But Chanukah really was our holiday. The real celebration and real presents would come on Chanukah, not Christmas. I was never confused about that. Somehow, I was able to go through all that while maintaining my commitment to and love of Judaism. So much so that I eventually became a rabbi.

I think the reason why there was no dilemma is because Judaism was such a central part of my life and the life of my family that there was no way I could consider these practices anything but a fun game. It was my family’s commitment to Judaism and the joys of celebrating Rosh Hashanah, Pesach, Chanukah, Purim, Simchat Torah and other holidays that created the essence of who I was as a person. That’s still the case. It was the case for my parents too. My late mother, who was born in 1924, remembered doing similar things when she was a child. And with no confusion.

In the end, I have mentioned all this history because as a child brought up in 1960s and 1970s America, I could still have viewed it as a dilemma. My parents could have too. They could have de cided to teach me clearly how Christmas was not ours out of fear that I might want to become Chris tian or abandon Judaism. But that was a thought that would never have entered their minds. The centrality of Judaism in our lives was so strong that it allowed us to play around with the other traditions without any fear of my abandoning the faith.

This is a perspective that I think could be helpful to all of us, whether or not we’re in an interfaith family. If we all work together to make Judaism not only meaningful, fun and beauti ful, but also an integral part of our lives, then we don’t have to see December, or any month, as a dilemma, whether or not we or our children marry someone Jewish. That is why I see this month as an opportunity and not a dilemma. It is an oppor tunity for us either to begin teaching this to our children or ourselves or to reaffirm what we’ve been doing already.

But one caveat: Because of the rise of antiSemitism and other complications in our world, I probably wouldn’t recommend that you follow in my parents’ footsteps. It would be more difficult to do so successfully today. But still, we must contin ue to focus on the joy and beauty of Judaism and Jewish community, even during difficult times, in order for us to take advantage of the opportunities rather than worry ourselves over potential dilem mas.

Shalom and Chanukah Sameach (early, of course).

Two new

By Sandi Teplitz Special to Hakol

Honey

and Latkes: Recipes from the Old World by the AuschwitzBirkenau Survivors, edited by Maria Zalewska, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation, Melcher Media, 256 pages.

This book has memories. It was published as a way of remembering loved ones murdered during the Ho locaust. It shares recipes evoca tive of foods and their aromas recollected by people who were there. Some of the recipes are traditional. Others deviate from the norm by adding unusual ingredients.

Each entry is preceded by a story from its contributor. The following recipe comes from Tova Friedman and is unique because of its addition of soy sauce. It is delicious.

for Chanukah Kasha Varneshkes

By Sandi Teplitz

Special to Hakol

The Modern Table: Kosher Recipes for Everyday Gather ings, by Kim Kushner, Figure 1 Publishing, 192 pages. The author of this cookbook was raised in Montreal by a Morocco-born mother. Spend ing summers with her family in Israel and then graduating from the Institute of Culi nary Education in New York, she was able to combine her unique background with skills that she picked up along the way.

This book takes kosher to a contemporary level. The recipe would be a nice re placement for latkes during Chanukah.

Chanukah traditions from around the world

My Jewish Learning

Jews around the world have developed Hanukkah customs that are unique to their local community.

1. Hanging the menorah on the wall

Most Ashkenazi Jews place a menorah in the window in order to publicize the miracle of Hanukkah. In Morocco, Al geria and other North African communities, it is customary to hang the menorah on a hook in the doorway, beside the mezuzah. Putting the menorah near the mezuzah was thought to enhance the protection already offered by the mezuzah. If you look at menorahs made in North Africa, you will notice that many have a ring at the top, as well as a flat metal backing, so that the menorah could be safely hung. Some Jews affiliated with Chabad also hang their me norahs. This group traces the tradition back to the Talmud (Shabbat 22a) which describes the menorah as being posi tioned on the doorpost like a mezuzah:

Rav Shmuel from Difti said: … the halakhah is to place [the menorah] on the left so that the Hanukkah lamp will be on the left and the mezu zah on the right. Then, one who enters the house will be surrounded by mitzvot.

2. Constructing a menorah from potatoes Jews in Romania, as well as Austria and other cen tral European communities, would scrape out potatoes, filling each potato space with oil and a wick to serve as the menorah. Rather than put ting all eight out at once, each day they would add another potato. While the origin of this custom is unclear, it likely came about due to economic

struggles.

3. Lighting an extra shamash

The Jewish community of Aleppo, which comprised mostly Sephardic Jews who had escaped the Inquisition, lit an extra shamash (helper candle) on each night of Ha nukkah. Several explanations exist — some say that the second shamash was meant to honor God and acknowl edge the divine intervention that brought them to safety. Others say the custom was a nod toward the non-Jews of Aleppo, who welcomed them as refugees.

4. Glass boxes on display Before mass immigration and the establishment of the State of Israel in the 20th cen tury, Jews lived in Jerusalem for centuries and followed the ruling that the menorah’s lights needed to be placed outside the home for all to see. This decree originates in the Talmud (Shabbat 21b): The sages taught in a be raita: It is a mitzvah to place the Hanukkah lamp at the entrance to one’s house on the outside, so that all can see it.

However, Jerusalem win ters are often wet and windy, so the community began crafting aquarium-like glass boxes to protect their flames. Inside, Jerusalem Jews put small cups of olive oil and lit a wick to correspond with each night. Some of Jeru salem’s oldest homes even have a shelf carved out of the home’s exterior walls to place the glass boxes in.

Today, many Israeli Jews have adopted this practice, although some will simply place a hanukkiah with candles inside the box, rather than using oil.

5. Chag HaBanot: a celebration of women Jewish communities in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq,

Iran, Turkey, Morocco, Greece and Yemen celebrate another holiday during Hanukkah, known in Judeo-Arabic as Eid Al Bnat or Chag HaBanot in Hebrew, both of which translate to the Festival of the Daughters.

Observed on Rosh Ch odesh Tevet (which falls on the sixth night of Hanukkah), the girls and women of the community refrain from work and gather to recall Jewish heroines, particularly Judith, the Jewish woman who lived during the time of the Mac cabees and helped prevent the impending siege of Jerusalem by decapitating the invading Assyrian general.

Chag HaBanot festivities vary from community to community, but often in clude eating sweets and fried treats, dancing, visiting the synagogue to kiss the Torah scrolls and singing well into the night. Girls approaching bat mitzvah age, as well as women who were engaged, were also publicly celebrated during Chag HaBanot.

6. Neighborhood wine tastings

The region of Avignon, located in southern France, is renowned for its wineries. During the Saturday night that falls during Hanukkah, after Shabbat ended, the Jews of Avignon open a new bottle of local wine in their homes and make a toast. Then, each family travels around their neighborhood to taste the wines chosen by their neighbors and to toast to the miracle of Hanukkah.

7. No melachot near the menorah

It is a longstanding practice among North African and Middle Eastern Jewish com munities, as well as Haredi Ashkenazi Jews, that as long as the menorah is lit, women

refrain from doing melachot, the types of work that are forbidden on Shabbat and holidays. While Hanukkah is not a holiday that requires Jews to refrain from labor, this custom can be traced back to laws codified by both Ashkenazi and Sep hardic leaders who ruled, pre-electricity, that the light of the menorah was not to be used for anything besides enjoying the holiday.

8. The ninth night of Chanukah

In parts of Morocco, Jew ish children spend the last

day of Hanukkah going from house to house to col lect the leftover cotton wicks that Moroccan Jews used in place of candles. At sun down, the wicks are ignited to create a large bonfire, and each community gathers to sing, dance and even leap over the fire, which was believed to bring good luck to the jumper, especially to women seeking a partner or struggling to conceive. These are only a sampling of the many traditions that various communities around the world developed.

ROBERT WAX President JERI ZIMMERMAN