{"id":30977,"date":"2018-11-23T03:42:47","date_gmt":"2018-11-23T11:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=30977"},"modified":"2018-11-20T16:34:48","modified_gmt":"2018-11-21T00:34:48","slug":"connect-gifts-to-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/11\/23\/connect-gifts-to-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"Connect gifts to holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gifts can range from superhero socks to a journal to time with family and friends.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you consider the meaning of Chanukah, it\u2019s about the Jewish struggle to maintain observance within a non-Jewish world,\u201d writes Deena Yellin in the article \u201cTo gift or not to gift<\/a>\u201d on chabad.org. \u201cThe Maccabees\u2019 victory was not just a military triumph but a win over assimilation as they succeeded in preserving the Jewish tradition. Chanukah presents a wonderful opportunity to convey the message of maintaining a strong identity despite outside pressures.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Yellin\u2019s household, they \u201cget out the Chanukah box filled with homemade decorations featuring menorahs and Maccabees that the children made in previous years\u2026. We hang them up in our windows and around the candlelighting area. After all, publicizing the miracle is a big part of celebrating Chanukah.\u201d<\/p>\n

As well, every child lights their own chanukiyah, often one they\u2019ve made themselves, and they invite people over. \u201cOne of the best ways to show children the beauty of the holiday is by sharing it with friends and relatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, food \u2013 latkes, sufganiyot and other deep-fried treats \u2013 is part of the celebration, as are games and crafts. Even gift-giving games. \u201cOne of my friends,\u201d writes Yellin, \u201cholds a \u2018Mystery Maccabee\u2019 project in which everyone picks the name of a family member from a hat so that they only need to buy a gift for that person. At their annual Chanukah party, everyone has fun guessing who got whose gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, many people use \u201cChanukah as an opportunity to teach their children to think of others who are less fortunate. One way to do this is by encouraging them to donate one of their gifts or some of their gelt to sick or needy children. Other philanthropic options are donating non-perishable items to a local food pantry or volunteering in a soup kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sarah Zadok, also in an article published on chabad.org (\u201cIs giving Chanukah presents a non-Jewish custom?<\/a>\u201d), notes, \u201cThe word Chanukah shares a root with the word l\u2019chanech<\/em> or chinuch<\/em>, which means \u2018to mold\u2019 or \u2018to educate.\u2019 Education, especially the education of children, is the foundation of what we celebrate on Chanukah.\u201d<\/p>\n

She allows that it is possible to educate and \u201cto highlight the meaning of Chanukah through gift-giving. For example, giving your kids books or tapes or videos about the story of Chanukah\u2026. Or, by drawing attention to the concept of the triumph of light over darkness \u2013 another powerful theme of the Chanukah story \u2013 you could invite your kids to bring \u2018light\u2019 where it is dark. You could, for example, make a project and bring it to a retirement home and brighten up someone\u2019s day, or hand out cookies or latkes or winter coats to homeless people, or teach another Jew about our Chanukah traditions and invite them in to make a blessing over the candles with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the forward.com article \u201c8 days of meaningful Hanukkah giving<\/a>,\u201d Shanee Markovitz writes, \u201cit\u2019s not about what<\/em> we give as much as why<\/em> we are giving it.\u201d She offers night-by-night suggestions based on different themes.<\/p>\n

Night 1 (Jewish values and roots): gifts like Chanukah Mad Libs for kids or a gift card to a Judaica store for adults.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>Night 2 (self-care): for kids, tablets that change the colour of bath water; for adults, essential oils for the bath or a massage.<\/p>\n

Night 3 (dream big): for all ages, a journal or a pillow and\/or pillowcase.<\/p>\n

Night 4 (family and friends): again, for all ages, a picture frame for photos of\/with family and friends.<\/p>\n

Night 5 (hope): for kids, a night-night projector; for adults, scented candles.<\/p>\n

Night 6 (gratitude): write someone \u201ca letter of why you are grateful for them and leave them an empty card for them to write a letter and pass on the favour to someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Night 7 (surround yourself with warmth): for kids and adults, a sweater.<\/p>\n

Night 8 (resilience): superhero socks for the kids and, for the adults, a goal planner or household tool kit (Maccabees<\/em> means \u201cHammer,\u201d after all).<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rabbi Rona Shapiro writes on ritualwell.org, in the article called \u201cChanukah gifts<\/a>,\u201d about using theme nights in an effort to practise moderation. Her family has had Big Gift Night (when each child gets one big gift from their parents); Grandparent Night (gifts from the grandparents); Book Night; Music Night (a night of songs); Cooking Night (make latkes and enjoy them with friends); Tzedakah Night (wrap presents to deliver to a children\u2019s hospital or other charity); and Homemade Gift Night (such as a family photo album or scrapbook).<\/p>\n

Shapiro suggests incorporating some new rituals into your celebration. For example, \u201cChag Habanot, the seventh night of Chanukah, is traditionally a women\u2019s holiday (it falls out on Rosh Chodesh) when it was customary for women to give gifts and tell the stories of valiant Jewish women.\u201d<\/p>\n

For adults, she suggests presents ranging from personal blessings to wine, food and candles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gifts can range from superhero socks to a journal to time with family and friends. \u201cWhen you consider the meaning of Chanukah, it\u2019s about the Jewish struggle to maintain observance within a non-Jewish world,\u201d writes Deena Yellin in the article \u201cTo gift or not to gift\u201d on chabad.org. \u201cThe Maccabees\u2019 victory was not just a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[781],"tags":[2517,5864,2518],"class_list":["post-30977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","tag-chanukah","tag-children","tag-gifts"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}