Thanks to Doodle the village orphan, the people of Chelm celebrated Hanukkah even during \u201cThe Long Winter of the Cabbage.\u201d <\/i>(image from reformjudaism.org)<\/i><\/p>\n
In literature, a cabbage might be a symbol for anything and everything disagreeable. In the village of Chelm, however, a cabbage is sometimes just a cabbage.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n They called it \u201cThe Long Winter of the Cabbage\u201d and, in the village of Chelm, few people were happy. There was a food shortage \u2013 all there was to eat was cabbage. Cabbage for breakfast, cabbage for lunch, and cabbage for dinner. No one was looking forward to Hanukkah.<\/p>\n As Rabbi Kibbitz was heard to mutter, \u201cA diet of cabbage may sustain, but it doesn\u2019t make you want to sing with joy.\u201d<\/p>\n Except for young Doodle, the village orphan, who honestly and truly loved cabbage, and reveled in every bite. Doodle, however, had learned to keep his appreciation for all things brassica to himself. When everyone else is miserable, they really don\u2019t want to hear someone appreciate the things they dread.<\/p>\n In previous years, the villagers held a Hanukkah party in the social hall, lighting candles and then dancing, and complaining about Mrs. Chaipul\u2019s lethal latkes.<\/p>\n But, this winter, the thought of Mrs. Chaipul\u2019s latkes made from cabbage made everyone shudder. So, the Hanukkah party was canceled.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the weather,\u201d Mrs. Chaipul said. \u201cToo cold. Too wet. Too much snow. Too much ice. Too much wind.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll say there\u2019s too much wind!\u201d said Reb Cantor, the merchant, before he withered under Mrs. Chaipul\u2019s glare.<\/p>\n Reb Cantor himself was particularly unhappy. Recently, the villagers of Chelm had gotten into the habit of buying and giving gifts to each other to celebrate Hanukkah.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not Christmas presents,\u201d explained little Shemini Schlemiel, who had come up with the idea. \u201cThey\u2019re Hanukkah gifts!\u201d<\/p>\n The problem with these Hanukkah gifts was that they had become a large part of Reb Cantor\u2019s business. The merchant discussed this at great length with his friend Rabbi Yohon Abrahms, the school teacher, but their cabbage-addled brains devised no brilliant solution. Not even a foolish solution.<\/p>\n When the first night of Hanukkah arrived, with a cold wind and rain mixed with snow, that turned to muddy slush in the darkened streets, the villagers of Chelm stayed home. They shivered in front of their fires. They poked at their cabbage stews and their cabbage briskets (don\u2019t ask).<\/p>\n Everyone wanted to complain, especially the children, who had become accustomed to getting presents, but nobody had the energy.<\/p>\n Except young Doodle, the village orphan, who had already finished a bowl of Mrs. Levitsky\u2019s sweet and sour cabbage soup, and was about to ask for more, when he noticed the dark mood in the Levitsky house.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d Doodle asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing,\u201d Martin Levitsky, the synagogue\u2019s caretaker, said, glumly. \u201cI\u2019m tired of cabbage.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think I\u2019ll go to bed early,\u201d Chaya Levitsky said, taking off her apron. \u201cHelp yourself to as much cabbage as you want.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut we haven\u2019t lit the Hanukkah candles yet,\u201d Doodle said.<\/p>\n \u201cMeh.\u201d Both Levitskys shrugged, and began making their way to their bedroom. \u201cYou do it, Doodle. We\u2019re going to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n Now Doodle was really worried.<\/p>\n He ran to the window, looked outside, and saw that no other houses in the village had candles lit in their windows.<\/p>\n \u201cNot again,\u201d Doodle whispered. It was the time of year. Sometimes the cold and the dark…. Was everyone just too tired of cabbage to celebrate?<\/p>\n \u201cWait!\u201d Doodle shouted.<\/p>\n This startled the Levitskys, who stopped in their tracks.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want us to have a heart attack, Doodle?\u201d Reb Levitsky asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I want you to wait two minutes while I light the Hanukkah candles.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll right.\u201d Mrs. Levitsky sighed. \u201cGo. Go already.\u201d<\/p>\n Doodle ran to the cabinet and brought down the Hanukkah menorah. He set two candles, and began to sing the blessings.<\/p>\n At first, the Levitskys stayed quiet, but soon they began to hum.<\/p>\n When Doodle used the lit shammos to set the second candle\u2019s taper alight, the Levitskys joined him.<\/p>\n And then, together, they all sang the words of the Shehecheyanu, giving thanks simply for being alive.<\/p>\n Moving quickly but carefully, Doodle set the lit menorah in the front window of the Levitskys\u2019 house.<\/p>\n At that very moment, Reb Cantor the merchant happened to look out his window. As did the entire Schlemiel family.<\/p>\n So did Rabbi Kibbitz and Mrs. Chaipul, who had been in the middle of a three-way argument with Rabbi Yohan Abrahms. All three forgot what they had been fighting about.<\/p>\n Through the rain and the sleet, everyone in the village of Chelm saw the two lights burning in the Levitskys\u2019 window.<\/p>\n They all fell silent. They all ran to their cupboards and shelves, got their hanukkiyahs, said or sang the blessings, and lit the candles.<\/p>\n Soon, there were bright lights burning in the windows of every home.<\/p>\n Even though it was still raining and snowing, and all there was to eat was cabbage, those small flames made everyone feel warmer. Songs were sung, children began to spin dreidels, gambling for cabbage, and a few brave souls tried to make cabbage latkes, but without much success.<\/p>\n That year in the village Chelm, there were no presents. The lights in the windows were gifts enough.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Izzy Abrahmson<\/b> is a pen name for storyteller Mark Binder. To find out more about \u2018The Long Winter of the Cabbage,\u2019 Mrs. Chaipul and Doodle, read <\/i>The Council of Wise Women. This new novel for adults is available in print, ebook and audiobook. For purchase links, visit bit.ly\/council-book<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thanks to Doodle the village orphan, the people of Chelm celebrated Hanukkah even during \u201cThe Long Winter of the Cabbage.\u201d (image from reformjudaism.org) In literature, a cabbage might be a symbol for anything and everything disagreeable. In the village of Chelm, however, a cabbage is sometimes just a cabbage. They called it \u201cThe Long Winter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[781],"tags":[21997,2648,23695,21777,4952,4838],"class_list":["post-45600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","tag-candlelighting","tag-chelm","tag-council-of-wise-women","tag-hanukkah","tag-hope","tag-storytelling"],"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\/45600","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=45600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}