Celebrating the Holidays

VTT students build interfaith connections

VTT’s HannukkaMunity of LOVE. (photo from Vancouver Talmud Torah)

Vancouver Talmud Torah has two great Chanukah-related initiatives, one for the students to connect with students from other schools and one to bring parents and staff to work together and build the HannukkaMunity of LOVE. For the former, VTT students from grades K-7 have prepared Chanukah gift packages for Muslim, Catholic and First Nations children in British Columbia. Each package includes items related to the holiday with an explanation and a personalized greeting. Grade 7 students are making a video to include to help educate children from other faiths and cultures about Chanukah.

Shoshana Burton, VTT’s interim director of Jewish life and programming, said, “We want to emphasize the value of diversity and a building of a connection that is based on tolerance, curiosity and a pride of who we are by sharing the warmth of Chanukah with our peers. These gifts are just a start! They will be delivered on Dec. 12 to St. Augustine’s Catholic school, the Ismaili Muslim school and to First Nations Namgis T’sasala … on Vancouver Island.”

VTT Grade 7 students will also be exchanging gifts with Grade 7 students in the Ismaili community. “I have met Ismaili leaders who are excited about reciprocating in kind,” said Burton. “It’s an opportunity to teach our students about the upcoming Ismaili holiday,” which marks the birthday of the Aga Khan.

This exchange is the beginning of a partnership that will continue in February and March. In February, VTT students will have a chance to meet their counterparts at the other schools and get to know each other. Also, during spring break, they will be serving food to some residents of the Downtown Eastside.

“We’ll end our collaboration with families from both schools going out into the community for Random Acts of Chesed. We are calling it RAC Race TWOgether!” said Burton.

Holiday treats to be beheld – not eaten!

The Holiday of Light, Chanukah is approaching fast. That is why Curly Orli and I are looking to prepare Chanukah cookies with you! However, we will not need eggs, flour or other ingredients for baking – instead, we will make them from Plasticine or Play Doh. Here’s how:

1. We start by making three different shapes like in the first picture, using orange Plasticine: a chanukiyah (a candleholder with nine candles), a sevivon (dreidel) and a Star of David, or Magen David.

2. Using the Star of David shape, cover the surface of the cookie with a thin layer of blue Plasticine for icing.

3. Add thin stripes of white Plasticine to the cookie.

4. For the chanukiyah, add blue icing to the base, then add white Plasticine stripes around the shape of the base.

5-6. Using yellow Plasticine, make the chanukiyah’s main stand, then add four curved lines to both sides of the main stand. Make candles from small pieces of white Plasticine and, for the top of the candles, create flames by using red Plasticine.

7-9. In the same manner as with the Magen David and chanukiyah, add blue icing to the top of the sevivon cookie and then white lines. Also, let’s add the letters on the dreidel, a nun, gimmel, hay or shin, for Nes gadol hayah sham, A great miracle happened there.

Make a lot of cookies – but don’t eat them! Curly Orli and I hope that the cookies from this art project will help make your home even more festive.

Happy Chanukah to all the readers of the Jewish Independent!

Lana Lagoonca is a graphic designer, author and illustrator. At curlyorli.com, there are more free lessons, along with information about Curly Orli merchandise.

Latke, latka: ‘cause it’s tradition!

Latkes are a simple yet delicious holiday treat. Try baking instead of frying, or dress them up with dill sauce and fish. (photo by Barry A. Kaplan)

They’re sometimes greasy, sometimes salty and soggy, and they are fried in oil. They’re high in calories, sometimes; high in fat, sometimes; high in cholesterol, sometimes. But they’re oh, so good! What are they? They’re potato pancakes, otherwise known as latkes (or latkas), in what we believe to be Yiddish, or as levivot in Hebrew.

With all the oil used for frying, traditional latkes may be considered an unhealthy food. Yet, each Chanukah, many of us who are staunch-hearted and old-fashioned spend time hand-grating potatoes (nearly always accidentally suffering at least one scraped knuckle). The more modern among us risk producing a sort of liquid mush by using a food processor or blender, a different take on a holiday classic.

Why do we keep making these little pancakes year after year? Why do we eat them for Chanukah in the first place? Tevye might answer, “It’s tradition!” An old folk proverb says, “Chanukah latkes teach us that one cannot live by miracles alone.”

The word latke is not Yiddish as everyone assumes, after all, writes Jewish food writer and cookbook author Joan Nathan. Rather, it comes from the Russian latka, which is a type of pastry, “perhaps from obsolete Russian oladka … flat cake of leavened wheat dough.” This, in turn, probably came from a Middle Greek word eladion, oil cake, she writes, which probably comes from elaion, meaning olive oil.

Potato pancakes do seem to have originated among poor Eastern European Jews, but potatoes did not actually become a staple food for these Jews until the mid-19th century. John Cooper, in Eat and Be Satisfied: A Social History of Jewish Food, writes that Jews from Lithuania ate pancakes made from potato flour for Chanukah and had borrowed the idea from the Ukrainians, who made a potato pancake dish with goose fat called kartoflani platske, which they ate for Christmas. Since Chanukah fell about the same time, and there were plenty of geese to provide goose fat (schmaltz), we could conclude that schmaltz became a substitute for oil, following the holiday tradition. Jews living in the Pale of Settlement in the 17th century probably adapted the recipe for Chanukah as a way to dress basic potatoes differently for the holiday. Cooper adds that many Eastern European Jews ate buckwheat latkes for Chanukah, while Polish Jews made placki, pancakes of potato flour fried in oil.

MY MOM’S CLASSIC LATKES
six servings

6 peeled potatoes
1 medium onion
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup flour
oil

Grate potatoes and onion into a bowl or chop with blender or food processor.
Add eggs, salt, pepper and flour and blend.
Heat oil in a frying pan. Drop batter by tablespoon around pan. Fry until brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels.

(Note: this recipe can also be used to make potato kugel by pouring the batter into a greased casserole dish and baking in a 350°F oven for 45 minutes.)

LOW-FAT LATKES
eight-10 servings

3 lbs coarsely grated potatoes
1 coarsely grated onion
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup egg substitute or 2 eggs plus 4 whites
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place nonstick baking sheets in oven to heat.
Drain off as much liquid as possible from bowl with grated potatoes and onion.
Add flour, baking powder, eggs or egg substitute, salt and pepper and blend.
Spray baking sheet with oil. Spoon small mounds of potato mixture onto baking sheets.

Bake until brown on one side then flip to other side, making sure to place them where there is oil. Transfer to a platter and serve at once.

WOLFGANG PUCK’S POTATO PANCAKES WITH SMOKED SALMON AND DILL SAUCE

1 pound coarsely grated potatoes
1 small coarsely grated onion
1 egg
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
oil
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp chopped dill
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp snipped chives
1/2 pound thinly sliced smoked salmon*

Squeeze dry the potato-onion mixture after grating. Add egg, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper.
Heat oil in a frying pan. Drop tablespoons of the mixture around pan and flatten with the back of a spoon. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels and continue with remaining batter.
In a bowl, combine sour cream, dill lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Sprinkle with chives. Arrange pancakes on a platter. Serve with dill cream and smoked salmon.

*In place of or in addition to salmon, you can serve with two ounces of caviar.

Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, foreign correspondent, lecturer, food writer and book reviewer who lives in Jerusalem. She also does the restaurant features for janglo.net and leads weekly shuk walks in English in Jerusalem’s Jewish food market.

It’s time to make sufganiyot

There are so many flavors of sufganiyot to be found in Jerusalem around this time of year. (photo by Barry A. Kaplan)

From Israel have come two popular foods for Chanukah: sufganiyot (doughnuts, often filled with jelly) and ponchikot, which are ball-shaped, resembling a doughnut hole.

Gil Marks, in The World of Jewish Desserts, writes that doughnuts fried in oil, ponchikot, were adopted by Polish Jews for Chanukah. The name is taken from the Polish paczki (pronounced poon-chkey), which led to the nickname ponchiks, the Polish name for jelly doughnuts. Paczki are similar to jelly doughnuts, only larger, more dense and more rich, and are traditionally served on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. Paczki were made to quickly use up stores of shortening and eggs, which were prohibited during Lent.

Sufganiyot also have interesting history. Some say sufganiyah, which in Hebrew means sponge-like, is reminiscent of the sweet, spongy cookie popular along the Mediterranean since the time of the Maccabees. Hebrew dictionaries say the word comes from the Greek sufgan, meaning puffed and fried.

In The Jewish Holiday Kitchen, Joan Nathan, an acquaintance of mine from our Jerusalem days and noted cookbook author and maven of American Jewish cooking, said she learned a fanciful fable about the origins of sufganiyot from Dov Noy, an Israeli folklorist. Noy relates a Bukhharan fable in which the first sufganiyah was given to Adam and Eve as compensation for their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The word sufganiyah, he writes, comes from the word sof meaning end, while gan means garden and Y-ah is G-d. Thus, sufganiyah means the end of G-d’s garden. Noy clarifies that clearly this fable was created at the beginning of the 20th century, since sufganiyah is a spoken Hebrew word coined by pioneers.

CLASSIC SUFGANIYOT
makes 32-36

3 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs
4 3/8 tsp baking powder
3/8 tsp salt
2 cups vanilla yogurt
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
oil
confectioner’s sugar or cinnamon sugar

Mix flour, eggs, baking powder, salt, yogurt, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl until well blended.
Heat oil in a soup pot. Drop tablespoon of batter around the pot, fry until brown on both sides, drain on paper towels.
Roll in cinnamon sugar or confectioner’s sugar.

OVEN-BAKED SUFGANIYOT
makes 24

1 cup skim milk
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tbsp instant yeast

Syrup:
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup water

Sugar coating and filling:
1/4 cup sugar
jam

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease mini muffin cups.
Heat milk and butter in a saucepan. Stir in sugar and salt. Let cool.
In one mixing bowl, combine egg and milk mixture. In a second bowl, combine three cups of flour with yeast, then add to egg-milk mixture and beat for two minutes with mixer or hand mixer.
Stir in half-cup flour to make soft batter. Cover and let rise until double in volume.
Turn dough onto a floured work space. Roll dough into a log. Cut off pieces and form into balls. Place each ball in a muffin cup. Cover pans and let rise for 30 minutes.
Place in oven and bake 12-15 minutes until lightly browned.
In the meantime, combine sugar and water in a saucepan. Heat, then boil until thick. Reduce heat and keep warm.
Remove doughnuts to a cooling rack then toss in sugar syrup and remove with a slotted spoon. Roll in sugar. To inject, poke a hole in the side of each doughnut, inject jelly. If not serving immediately, wait to dip in sugar syrup and rolling in sugar.

These can be made three months ahead and frozen after cooled. To use, defrost, cover with foil, reheat in 350°F oven 15 minutes, dip in sugar syrup and either roll in sugar or inject with jelly.

PAREVE CHANUKAH PONCHIKOT
makes 36

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup non-dairy creamer
1 egg
oil
confectioner’s sugar or cinnamon sugar

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Mix.
Add oil, non-dairy creamer and egg and mix.
Heat oil in a soup pot. Drop by teaspoon into oil and fry on all sides until brown. Drain on paper towels.
Roll in confectioner’s sugar or cinnamon sugar.

Latin American treats

Aviva Kanoff has been described as “the Indiana Jones of cooking,” and the subtitle of her latest book, Gluten Free Around the World (Brio Books, 2014), is “a journey of food, travel and extraordinary adventure.” She is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute and has worked as a chef, painter and photographer. Her previous book, The No-potato Passover, received the Gourmand Award for the best Jewish cuisine in 2012 and was original; so is this book.

Her 104 recipes are divided into breakfast, soups and salads, sides, vegetarian, fish, poultry, meat and desserts. There are recipes from England, Thailand, France, Ireland, Israel, Ecuador, Vietnam, Italy, India, Morocco, Spain, Scotland, Cambodia, Indonesia and Arizona. Ingredients are listed clearly and – my favorite – directions are numbered. Each recipe is accompanied by a mouth-watering color photograph and additional photos from its country of origin, all of which enhance the presentation of the book and make it unique.

Not only is this a great book for anyone who is gluten free; it is good for people who enjoy recipes from different countries that are distinctive and innovative. This would be a great gift for anyone who collects cookbooks or who likes to try imaginative recipes.

Here are a couple of recipes that would work perfectly as Chanukah treats in keeping with the tradition of eating foods made with oil.

CHURROS
Reviewer’s note: Churros are a fried-dough pastry popular in Spain, France, the Philippines, Portugal, Mexico and Latin America. The recipe that follows is from Ecuador.

1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup water
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
canola oil for frying
confectioner’s sugar

In a medium bowl, combine granulated sugar and cinnamon. Set aside for topping.
In a medium saucepan, combine water, butter, brown sugar and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. Cook and stir until the mixture forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat and let cool.
Line a baking sheet with greased parchment paper. After the dough has cooled for 10 minutes, add the egg and vanilla to the saucepan, and beat ingredients with a wooden spoon to blend them completely. Transfer the mixture to a decorating bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe four-inch lengths onto the prepared baking sheet.
Heat three inches oil in a deep saucepan over medium high heat. Fry a few strips at a time in hot oil (at least 375°F), turning once, until golden brown on all sides, about five minutes. Drain on paper towels. Roll warm churros in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat. Serve warm.

BOCADITOS DE PAPA
Ecuadorian potato-cheese fritters

1 lb russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 cup shredded pepper jack or cheddar cheese
2 tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
canola oil
salsa (optional)

In a large saucepan, place potatoes in enough salted water to cover. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Simmer, covered for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender, then drain.
In a large bowl, mash potatoes with a potato masher until smooth. Fold in cheeses, eggs, cilantro, salt, cumin and cayenne pepper. Shape mixture into 12 three-inch-diametre patties. If desired, covered and chill for up to 24 hours before cooking.
In a large skillet, heat one-inch of oil to 375°F. Add potato patties, three or four at a time and fry about two minutes or until golden brown, turning once halfway through cooking time. Drain on paper towels. Serve hot and top with salsa if desired.

The menorah: shining literal and figurative light

Many scholars believe that the menorah is a stylized version of a tree. The Knesset Menorah, pictured here, was built by Jewish sculptor Benno Elkan, and presented to Israel by the U.K. parliament in 1956. (photo from commons.wikimedia.org)

For the winter festival of Chanukah, we will all light the candles of our chanukiyot. A chanukiyah is a menorah with an additional two candles. The eight candles (not including the shamash), we are told, represent the miracle of Chanukah, in which the oil for the Temple menorah lasted for eight days following the Maccabean victory. But what of the menorah itself? From where does it derive its form, and what does it mean?

Many scholars believe that the menorah was a stylized version of a tree. This should seem quite obvious; it is, after all, a central trunk with branches. Indeed, when first mentioned in the Book of Exodus, it is described as having branches and cups like almonds, and bearing flowers.

Sacred trees play an important role in Jewish mythology, beginning with the Trees of Life and Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. The Tanach refers to trees or wood a total of 535 times, more than any other organism other than humans. Olive trees, for instance, were important not only biblically, but to the economy of ancient Israel. The menorah was lit with olive oil. Jeremiah metaphorically describes Israel itself as an olive tree: “The Lord called thy name, a green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult He hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.” (Jeremiah 11:36)

Note in the preceding passage reference not only to a branching tree, but one crowned with fire. Taking Jeremiah’s image of the burning olive tree to be a menorah, one can then conclude that the menorah is a symbol of Israel. Not that it should necessarily be considered to specifically represent an olive tree per se. Different scholars have attributed it to various trees, like the almond tree, or tamarisk, or even a special species of sage indigenous to Israel that looks strikingly similar to the menorah, and may have been used as incense by the priests of the Temple.

Many Jewish holidays involve agricultural celebration with an emphasis on arboreal reverence. One such holiday, Tu b’Shevat, also called the New Year of the Trees, takes place in late winter/early spring, around the time of the blossoming of the almond trees. Depictions of menorot found archeologically would often be accompanied by other Jewish religious symbols, such as the etrog, lulav and shofar. Their use in the autumn harvest holiday of Sukkot is described in the Tanach as follows: “And you shall take on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.” (Leviticus 23:40)

It should be noted the special religious significance placed upon trees and the number seven, both of which are embodied within the menorah itself. The holidays of Sukkot and Tu b’Shevat both would have once involved pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem, and be celebrated with the lighting of the menorah. These associations clearly indicate that the menorah is not only a ritualistic object, but symbolic of holidays and celebrations, bringing light into people’s lives both literally and figuratively.

The lights of the menorah are thought to have had the power to ignite the soul. Its seven lamps could be representative of the seven days of Creation. When Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, God created a magical fire to protect the way to the Tree of Life, which perhaps also has some significance to the symbolism of the fires atop the menorah “tree.” The prophet Zechariah supposedly had a vision in which God had seven eyes that wandered through heaven. Some scholars have speculated that the seven lights in that vision, and the seven lights of the menorah, are in fact symbolic of the seven planets of classical astronomy. Some rabbis believe that the shamash represents the sun, and the first day of Creation. In the story of Genesis, on the first day, God created light. The first verse of Genesis is, in fact, composed of seven words, in Hebrew, which translate as: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

The early analytical psychologist Carl Jung noted that the menorah is a synthesis of the antagonistic symbols of the tree/growth from the earth and fire/the heavens, which combine to symbolize the growth of spiritual enlightenment. Jung hypothesized that the lights of the menorah were symbolic of the illumination of consciousness. The burning bush, the way God chose to reveal himself to Moses, is thus a symbol embodied within the form of the menorah as a symbol of revelation.

Ben Leyland is an Israeli-Canadian writer, and resident of Vancouver. This article is the first of a short series examining the menorah.

Finite and infinite light

How can we explain the mitzvah of the Chanukah light? What about two of its features? One, the lights are to be placed by the door of one’s house that is next to the street or public domain, and they must be placed on the left-hand side of the door. These features have deep symbolism: our tradition tells us that the “left hand side” and the “public domain” both stand for the realm of the profane; by placing the lights there, we are bringing the Divine light into the area of existence that is most resistant to it.

The mitzvah of the Chanukah lights is similar in two respects to that of the mezuzah: both have to be placed by the side of the door of a house or courtyard, and both must be set on the “outside.” However, there are also two differences between them. A mezuzah must be fixed on the right-hand side of the door, while Chanukah lights are to be set on the left. Though both are placed outside, in the case of the mezuzah, this is only to mark the entrance. Chanukah lights, however, are intended to illuminate the outside, the public domain. The mezuzah points inward, while the menorah shines outward.

These points of difference may, in fact, be connected. We learn that the public domain, rishut ha’rabim, literally the domain of the many, suggests the idea of multiplicity or a lack of unity; the left-hand side is the name for the source of life in which there is a separation and disunity. Public domain and left-hand side, therefore, are related, both symbols for the dimension of division and alienation from G-d.

Interestingly, the precept of mezuzah is said to be equal in importance to all the other mitzvot together; it is said to include all other mitzvot within itself. Indeed, almost all mitzvot share the two features that characterize the mezuzah: the idea of the right hand, and of being directed inward.

Most mitzvot are to be performed with the right hand. For example, burnt offerings were vitiated if they were not offered with the right hand. Certain commandments must be performed indoors, and it remains evident that those that may be done outside have no integral connection with the idea of the public domain, since they may also be performed indoors. In short, they have no connection with place at all.

The Chanukah light – occupying the left-hand side and intended for the outside – has a different character to almost all other precepts in Judaism. The difference between the mezuzah (and all other mitzvot) and the Chanukah light is analogous to that of positive and negative commandments. The positive are those that can only be performed with objects that belong to the domain of the permitted; the negative covers the (non-performance of the) forbidden.

Every performance of a mitzvah brings spiritual light to the world, in the form of Divine light. The light that is drawn down by the fulfilment of a positive mitzvah is of the kind that can be internalized in the act itself, clothed or contained within it. The act “clothes” the light in the same way as the body “clothes” the soul. A Divine light that can be contained in such a way is finite; it takes on the character of that which contains it, and cannot descend to the realm of the impure or forbidden.

The light that is released by the fulfilment of a negative command, however, is infinite. It cannot be contained by the forbidden (or indeed by any) act, nor does it share its character, so it can be released only by refraining. Only an infinite light can reach that far, into impurity, in order to be undimmed where it shines. The Chanukah light is of this infinite kind; it brings light to the left-hand side and the public domain, both symbols of impurity and alienation from G-d. However, Chanukah light goes even beyond the negative commandment. Recall that it is, in fact, a positive command. Chanukah lights illuminate and purify, rather than negate, the world of outside, just as a positive command purifies the world of inside.

This is the connection between the Chanukah lights and the Torah, which is also called “a light.” The Torah also specifies acts that are forbidden and things that are impure. Through studying the Torah, the sparks of holiness embedded in the realm of the forbidden are released and elevated.

The miracle of Chanukah is apparent not only in the fact that “for your people, Israel, You worked a great deliverance and redemption as at this day” – a deliverance from a people who were “impure,” “wicked” and “arrogant,” and despite their being “strong” and “many”; but also in the result that “afterwards, Your children came into Your most holy house, cleansed Your Temple, purified Your sanctuary, and kindled lights in Your holy courtyards.”

May each and every one of us recognize the beauty in the mitzvah of lighting Chanukah candles, and may we be blessed with a fun, delicious and wonderful eight-day festival.

Esther Tauby is a local educator, counselor and writer. This article is based on the talks of the Lubavitch Rebbe, OBM.

Some fun facts about dreidels

Major League Dreidel attracts many competitors. (photo from facebook.com/majorleaguedreidel)

The word dreidel is Yiddish, and comes from the German verb dreihen, meaning “to spin.” Dreidel literally means “little spinner.” The first dreidel players were Yiddish-speaking Jews in medieval Europe. In fact, playing with tops has been a popular pastime across Western Europe since at least the 16th century!

Many believe that the four letters on the dreidel – nun, gimel, hay and shin – were taken from the Hebrew expression “Nes gadol hayah sham,” meaning “a great miracle happened there,” referring to the miraculous events of the Chanukah story in ancient Israel. Really, this meaning was added later on. The letters originally represented the Yiddish instructions for what to do when you land on each one (Yiddish and Hebrew use the same alphabet): gimel for gantz, whole, take the whole pot; hay for halb, half, take half the pot; nun for nisht, nothing, don’t take out or put in; and shin for shtehl einl, put in, i.e. put some of your coins into the pot.

As the dreidel became a symbol associated with Chanukah, many legends began to stem from it. For example, the following one: When Antiochus decreed that Jewish law may no longer be studied in public, righteous Jews defied him and continued to teach Torah to their children. When they saw the king’s henchman coming, groups of students would quickly hide their books and bring out their dreidels, pretending that they had merely gathered for a bit of fun and gambling.

From those times to nowadays, dreidel spinning has even become a competitive sport. The group Major League Dreidel hosts tournaments each year in New York City and crowns a champion for the longest-lasting continuous spin.

Binyamin Kagedan has a master’s in Jewish thought from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

A cure for menorah malaise

Reb Cantor discovers that some families, like Chelm’s Gold family, light eight candles on the first night of Chanukah. (photo by Dov Harrington from commons.wikimedia.org)

“I’m sick of Chanukah,” Reb Cantor, the merchant of Chelm, muttered. His wife, Shoshanna, looked up with surprise. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Did I say that aloud?” Reb Cantor paused and frowned. “But now that you ask…. I’m tired of Jewish holidays. I’m tired of non-Jewish holidays. I’m done with giving and getting. I’m bored with lighting candles and saying the same blessings over and over and over again. I’m finished with wondering when Chanukah is, and I’m exhausted by all the conversation about whether it’s early or late. And I am so fed up with latkes and greasy food. If I never see another potato pancake in my life it won’t be too soon.”

“But Chanukah’s a tradition,” Shoshanna said. “It’s a mitzvah! And is it so wrong to celebrate one of the few battles the Jews actually won?”

“I don’t care anymore,” Reb Cantor answered. Shoshanna Cantor nodded and sighed. Her husband, Isaac, had always been prone to depression and, as the winter days got longer, his moods often got darker. Usually, she wouldn’t worry, but Chanukah hadn’t even started yet, and listening to him kvetch for a whole eight-day week would be too much to take.

“Well, there’s a one benefit.” She smiled. “If you’re not eating latkes, you’ll probably lose some weight.”

Then she rubbed his big belly and kissed his balding forehead.

Reb Cantor tried to be grumpy about this too, but he couldn’t help himself and snorted a laugh.

***

The door of the Cantor house slammed. It was late in the afternoon of the first evening of Chanukah, and Reb Cantor was furious. He was ready to rant and rage and stomp. Not only did he hate potato latkes, he hated the way Shoshanna fried them in advance and then left them to warm in the oven until they became greasy and soggy. He sniffed the air and … there was nothing … no rancid oil or stale potato scent.

“Shoshanna!” he bellowed just as his wife appeared. “What….”

“Don’t take off your coat,” she said as she put on a wrap. “We’re not having dinner at home.”

“I’m not going to the Chelm Chanukah party!” Reb Cantor barked. “Mrs. Chaipul’s latkes always make me queasy.”

“It’s not till tomorrow night anyway,” she said. “Come with me.”

Then she walked out. He had no choice but to follow.

It wasn’t far to the Gold house. The poor cobbler lived with his many children in a home that had been completely rebuilt after it had accidentally won the sukkah contest several years before.

Shoshanna knocked on the door, and then went in. Clearly, they were expected.

Reb Cantor frowned and stomped his feet on the stoop in frustration.

A quiet voice asked, “What are you doing?”

Reb Cantor looked down at Reb Gold’s youngest daughter, Fegi, who seemed a little frightened.

“Nothing,” the merchant said, softening his voice. “I’m just making sure my boots are clean before I come inside.”

“Oh,” the little girl said. “Mama makes us take them off so we don’t track mud or scratch the floors.” She beckoned to a stack of shelves on the wall that were filled with shoes and boots.

Reb Cantor forced a smile, and sat on a bench.

“What’s that amazing smell?” he asked.

“Latkes!” the girl said with delight. “Mama’s making them and everybody’s gobbling them as fast as they come out of the pan.”

“You eat before the candles are lit?” the merchant said.

“Papa says that since Chanukah is so late this year and there are so many people to feed that we should eat while the oil’s hot.”

“So, they’re not warmed-over and limp?”

“They’re hot and crispy!” Fegi grinned. “With delicate, lacy edges.”

Reb Cantor’s mouth watered, despite his attempts to be angry and upset.

He padded his stocking feet into the kitchen full of the Gold family, large and small.

“Here, eat this,” Esther Gold said, popping a tiny warm latke into his mouth before he could say a word. “We wouldn’t want it to get cold.”

Reb Cantor couldn’t speak because of the savory explosions in his mouth.

“You’re just in time for the blessings,” Joshua Gold said.

The room fell silent. Even the oil stopped sizzling.

Soon it was filled with the song of the blessings. Each child harmonized and, as soon as he had chewed and swallowed the delicious bite, Reb Cantor couldn’t help himself and joined in.

Each of the Gold children and both their parents lit a candle until eight lights and the shammos were burning brightly. The sun had set and there was no other light in the room but the glow from the stove and the tall tapers in the middle of the long table.

“Why does your family light eight candles on the first night of Chanukah?” Reb Cantor asked.

“Chanukah celebrates a miracle,” Reb Gold said. “And my family is a miracle. That we are together is a blessing. That we have a house and food and enough money to buy so many candles is a blessing. Chanukah is a golden holiday. The latkes are golden. The light from the candles is golden. And this is the Gold house. We are so fortunate it would be a shame not to celebrate that.”

Reb Cantor looked at his wife, who was smiling at him. He did his best to hold back his tears.

“Besides,” Fegi said brightly. “If we only lit one candle it would be dark.”

Everyone laughed. Latkes were made, dreidels were spun, and the cold dark night was made warm and bright.

The End.

Mark Binder is the author of the award-winning Life in Chelm series, which includes A Chanukah Present, The Brothers Schlemiel and Matzah Mishugas. His latest book is Cinderella Spinderella. A professional storyteller, he regularly performs at synagogues, Jewish community centres and the National Yiddish Book Centre.

Chanukah gifts aplenty

Shlomo and Hagar Yekutieli’s tablecloths feature many different designs, including Chanukah and other holiday motifs. (photo from shlomohagar.com)

As Chanukah appears on the horizon, our thoughts inevitably turn to two things: gifts, and fatty foods. If you’ve distributed all the socks, dreidels and menorahs in years past and are all out of ideas, rest assured, there’s more out there. Lots more.

Light it up

Most families are going to need Chanukah candles as the festival approaches, so a gift of decorative candles never has time to get stale. If your pet peeve is Chanukah candles that drip hard-to-remove wax all over your countertops, you’re not alone. A good alternative is Safed Candles’ dripless Chanukah candles at $9.95 for a box of 45 (traditionsjewishgifts.com). Another option: Rite Lite Judaica sells eco-friendly, hand-dipped multicolored beeswax Chanukah candles ($17.99) or regular hand-dipped candles at $15.04 without the eco-friendly label.

Decorate with it

Vancouver couple Shlomo and Hagar Yekutieli manufacture beautiful tablecloths decorated with Jewish motifs, among them menorah designs. Using 100 percent cotton fabric and a combination of vegetable and regular dye, the pair has been crafting cloths from their home for the past 26 years. They have designs for all the Jewish holidays, as well as waterproof sukkah hangings. Prices start at $35 and go up to $180 depending on the size of the table. For information, visit shlomohagar.com or call 604-603-4629.

Just for laughs

Cafepress.com is a website with a variety of cute gift ideas for Chanukah, some of them bordering on ridiculous. There are T-shirts that say “I Wanna be a Maccabee ($22+), baby clothes that ask “Got gelt?” and $23 baseball jerseys with the words “Blowing the shofar can get you only so far.”

Play it

Who needs Monopoly on Chanukah when you can play the Maccabee Adventure Game? (amazon.com, $29) In this board game, players must lead a band of Maccabees to find enough oil to light the menorah, trying to avoid the roaming remnants of the Seleucid Empire on the way. The game comes with instructions in Hebrew and English and offers around 45 minutes of entertainment for up to four players age 8 and older.

Read it

image - Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins book cover — Read about Hershel of Ostropol, who gives a Jewish village the gift of celebrating Chanukah by taking care of some nasty goblins that haunt the synagogue.

Chanukah is all about kids, so if you’re stuck for a gift for the special children in your circle, look no further than Eric Kimmel’s Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (Scholastic, 1990, scholastic.com, $3.71 paperback). In this story, Hershel of Ostropol gives a Jewish village the gift of celebrating Chanukah by taking care of a series of nasty goblins that haunt the old synagogue, blow out Chanukah candles, throw potato latkes on the floor and break dreidels.

Illustrated by the careful hand of Trina Shart Hyman, the goblins are mesmerizingly hideous and the story of their defeat is at once scary, defiant, courageous and humorous as they are shown to be cowards, easily fooled by Hershel’s tricks. This book is a must for any Jewish kids’ bookshelf, a text that gets pulled out year after year and captivates kids as young as 3 and as old as 8.

Make it

A great resource for Chanukah crafts for kids is Crafting Jewish by Rivky Koenig (Mesorah Publications, 2008, artscroll.com, $26.99). Featuring a chapter for each of the Jewish holidays, the Chanukah section has seven crafts and two recipes, as well as ideas for a doughnut and ice cream party where everyone makes his/her own dessert combinations. The crafts are varied and include creating a glowing glass menorah, making dreidel-stamped gift wrap, crafting clay dreidel charm jewelry and building a Chanukah tray made from a large picture frame. The activities are beautifully explained, with a list of needed items, an estimated duration for the craft and a picture on the opposite page showing the finished product as inspiration. If there’s a crafty kid in your house, this book will be well used.

Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond, B.C. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net.