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The oil stayed lit for 8 days...[Hanukkah/Jewish Thread]
Mazzyx
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Comedy GoldRegistered User regular
The oil was only enough for one day and it would take them eight to make more. But through a miracle the oil stayed lit for eight days. On these nights we remember the miracle of God giving light to our ancestors in ancient time. A symbol of hope that even when something seems impossible it may actually not be.
We live in what could arguably called dark times. With *points to the world* around us holidays like Hanukkah are more important than ever. The celebration of both the light in the darkness and showing that even an outnumbered and out matched force can still fight for themselves and their homes.
With this, this thread is to share what you are doing for Hanukkah! Share some latke photos! Did you make sufganiyot! But also talking about being a Jew in this time when there are so many things going on around us. And if you questions about Judaism and this time. There are a few of us around and we all have our own interpretation which is also important!
I had a much deeper OP but I think with the season a small bit of hope is all we really need! And remember we are still together. And we are still here to support each other.
Remember Hanukkah starts on December 25th. I hear there is some gentile thing that is that day too.
We live in what could arguably called dark times. With *points to the world* around us holidays like Hanukkah are more important than ever. The celebration of both the light in the darkness and showing that even an outnumbered and out matched force can still fight for themselves and their homes.
With this, this thread is to share what you are doing for Hanukkah! Share some latke photos! Did you make sufganiyot! But also talking about being a Jew in this time when there are so many things going on around us. And if you questions about Judaism and this time. There are a few of us around and we all have our own interpretation which is also important!
I had a much deeper OP but I think with the season a small bit of hope is all we really need! And remember we are still together. And we are still here to support each other.
Remember Hanukkah starts on December 25th. I hear there is some gentile thing that is that day too.
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We do gifts for the kid, but we don't wrap them up.
nobody in my house but me really likes potato latkes, so I don't go through the bother of making them. I might try sufganiyot this year though. i'm feeling brave.
I'm further isolated from my community this year. I've lost heaps of people that i thought were friends due to them being unwilling to pause and listen and empathize. I don't have access to the local synagogues, they're too far away and that messes with my social anxiety something awful.
There used to be a big hanukkah festival/party in one of the large public parks here, but they had to cancel it this year due to threats of violence against the attendees. The Reform synagogue has faced vandalism earlier this year, they got spray painted and then had a fire set on the back fence. So even thinking about going to High Holiday services in September was fraught with anxiety. You had to be a member of the synagogue and purchase tickets with photo ID in advance to even think about going. Luckily, they stream services online, so I didn't have to miss out.
It's been a very hard year for me, Jewishly. I lost the thread on my Torah study around about the time I lost literally everything else comforting. I couldn't get myself into it when everybody in real life that had cared about me (outside a select few and my family) made it very clear that i was nothing more than a tickbox for them to click. A token to carry around and show off as 'the Jewish Friend' and nothing more. Hard to really want to be focused on happy things when you find out that you don't matter to people who mattered to you.
On the other hand, as Tevye would say,
I went into my kids classroom and taught them about Hanukkah, and taught the kids how to play dreidel. And it went *so well*. 20 kids laughing and having fun, asking amazing questions about the holiday, traditions, etc. And they each got to take home a plastic dreidel, and an instruction sheet for how to play. I've heard from the parents of Ellie's classmates that their kids came home, super excited, and taught the family how to play Dreidel. And Ellie was *beaming* with pride that I came in, talked, and helped them stand out as being special.
I'm so thankful that their school is so very diverse. There's the obvious christian/secular dominance. but there are so many other cultures represented in Ellie's school. they do lessons on Eid and Diwali, they learn about Ramadan and have big celebrations for Lunar New Year. So while Ellie is the odd one out for being Jewish, she's not the odd one out for being different. And that is a huge change from when I was little. She feels so much pride in it. And for that I'm grateful.
Ellie's pride in their Judaism, their desire to want to learn more, absorb more, is my glimmer of light for this holiday.
Hanukkah is, at a very deep spiritual core, a holiday about Light. And being the Light in the Darkness. I'll likely do another post later touching on this more esoteric/spiritual sense of the holiday for myself. But at the moment, it's (at least in the northern hemisphere) the middle of winter, the darkest nights, and all around the world, starting tomorrow night, here where I am, lights will go up in windows, candles will be lit, oil will be burnt, and a flame and flicker of light will fill the darkness.
And for me, this year, that is my kid.
Chag Chanukah Sameach, hachavrim shli.
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the first is my go to Jewish cookbook, it's the one that we used when I was a kid and I was lucky enough that mom brought it down to me on her last summer visit.
Jewish Holiday Kitchen by the Amazing Joan Nathan The link is to an amazon listing for a newer paperback version. and I'm sure that theres even newer editions out there. Mostly Ashkenazi recipes, but there are a few Sephardi and Mizrachi as well. I use this mostly for Purim and making Hamantaschen. But there's a fairly easy looking Sufganiyot recipe in there that I might give a go this year.
Kosher by Design by Susie Fishbein. Another Amazon link. Susie has a full series of 'By Design' books, I've got a few of them. they're more fancy food, upscale/updated versions for people who have community and dinner parties etc. Pretty pictures and good tips on how to make something that might not usually be kosher into a kosher recipe.
The Jewish Holiday Table by Naama Shefi and The Jewish Food Society. Another Amazon link. This book is brand new to me this year, but i can see it becoming a fast favourite. The concept was to go through the Jewish Holiday calendar, contact a member of this Food Society, get their family history in a short story, and then a menu for a traditional family meal for the holiday. Then they would provide the recipes for that meal. The families, cultures, and histories represented are worldwide. From what i would consider my family tradition of Ashkenazi food from Ukraine, to the Sephardi feasts of Spain and Tehran, to the family of Recovered Conversos from South America, Beta Israel from Ethiopia, Bene Israel from India, and a family with their room deeply in Bukharian ancestry. This book takes the colourful history of the Diaspora Jewry and fills its pages with stories, recipes, photos, and life. I've already bookmarked a few things to try over the year.
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idk that we'll do anything for hanukkah beyond light candles for a day or two. I do always feel quite torn around this time of year because my dad will invite me home for latkes but I'm on the outs with my folks so I have chosen not to for a few years. He makes good latkes though. I might get lfx to make some, we'll see.
You could expand into kushikatsu... that's always a fun communal treat.
https://jewitches.com/blogs/blog/the-diminishing-of-channukah
their arguments around why Hanukkah may not be a 'major' holiday, but it is still an 'important' holiday ring very true to my brain and soul and I find their writing enjoyable and easy to read.
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oh this is a lovely article
I am absolutely guilty of diminishing hanukkah (and I genuinely do prefer and put more effort into passover)--but everything the authors say is true and quite resonant. I'll be thinking about this a lot
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Out of curiosity, I only know what little I do know about Jewish holidays because of the Rugrats specials. Are there any good Hanukkah movies. Particularly ones for kids.
Rugrats, Elena of Avalor has a hanukkah episode, Shalom Sesame has a Hanukkah episode. of course there's "Eight Crazy Nights" by Adam Sandler, but i've never seen it and it's PG-13 rated, so I can' really speak to the appropriateness of young kids.
it's part of the problem of being a minority. there's no money in making movies for us.
this is a book that i have which was also turned into a TV movie (not even 30 minutes) that i watched a lot as a kid
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If you want to learn about the origin (which is not at all the same as what it might mean to people 2200 years later) look for a good lecture about the Maccabean rebellion. It's quite a compelling story really. It's about a family in Judea starting an open rebellion against the successor state of Alexander the Great which was still ruling the area. Lots of back and forth in victories and defeats, intrigue with some of the earliest Roman interference in the Levant etc...
The final book of the Hebrew Bible to be written, Daniel, is about the same situation but the author of that book was wholeheartedly an apocalyptacist and so expected God to intervene directly against the Seleucids (he may have referred to Judas Maccabeas as the "little help" that would assist god but certainly the Temple hadn't been cleansed when the book was finished)
The books containing the story were themselves written in Greek (much like many other Jewish writings of the time) and so fell out of favor in the medieval period.
edit: phone posting so sorry about the spelling errors
I really never did pick up on just how much Kaballistic thought was ingrained in it.
felt good watching it again just now.
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Vic Michaelis stars in a Hanukkah Rom-Com, which is about as crazy as it sounds:
MHWilds ID: JF9LL8L3
It's a pretty deep and at times rather esoteric topic. And I'm a very new student to it all. (for storytelling purposes I will be referring and using the word 'Hashem', which translates literally as 'The Name' in place of the human concept of G-d. and also becuase I do not spell out that word becuase destruction of the name/word of G-d is considered kinda bad and breaking a commandment but anyways, i've digressed already)
Before the beginning, there was nothing and there was Hashem. And Hashem was a brilliant light that filled the limitless limits of existence. And then Hashem diminished, made smaller the light of existence and from that created the firmament and the universe and everything in it. Constricting the light of infinite more and more, until creation was finished. and from the Light of existence, of Hashem, millions of smaller lights separated off and came to the firmament to live and try life as mortals. This fragments of holy Light are what we would colloquially consider to be our souls. Specifically the Souls of the Jewish people, past, present, and future. as well as smaller Lights that are all others.
Fast forward and we get to Sinai and the Revelation of Torah to the People (celebrated on the holiday of Shavuot, which is 49 days after Pesach, and i know that specific number because we Count the Omer during that time and I'm getting way too detailed in this right now).
At Sinai, Moshe came down from the mountain to the People in the wilderness, and Hashem spoke to the People, giving them Torah. But the power and the Light was too much for most people and so it was that Moshe was given the task to write the Torah down, as the People could not hold all the holy words inside without going mad. But the belief is that every Soul, every Light, of every Jew past, present, and future, was at Sinai on that day.
When a body dies, the Light goes on a journey to return to Hashem, reviewing the course of the life it has experienced. It can then given another chance at experiencing mortality (reincarnation, of a sort), rejoining the Light of Existence (usually reserved for most Tzadikim or exceptionally holy people), or be obliterated from existence (reserved for those with no hope of redemption at all, pure evil). The majority return to Experience Life.
And so it is believed within Kabbalah and other circles of the more esoteric Judaism sects, groups, that each of us alive now has a spark of light within us that came from Hashem. And it's our duty, our mitzvot, the purpose of our lives, to bring that Light into the dark spaces of the world. To perform what is called 'Tikkun Olam" or "Repair the Earth". We are meant to take the light of our lives and bring joy, light, and peace to others.
And this ties into Hanukkah because of the time of year, and the presence of the menorah and candles in a beautiful way.
For the majority of Am Yisrael, the Jewish people/nation, this holiday falls in the depths of winter, when the world is dark the majority of the time. Candles in windows provide light to not only the household, but the outside world. A message of welcome and invitation, and a sign to others in the area that here, in this house, there is joy.
It wasn't always possible. Or hasn't been. Both in Tsarist and Soviet Russia, putting candles in your window was a sure way to alert your neighbours that you were different and could easily spark Pogroms under the Tsars, or arrest under the Soviets. The Rabbis determined that candles had to be lit a minimum of 30 minutes to fulfill the mitzvah, but would be short enough time to not draw attention of those who wanted to kill us.
But it is in the face of this, in the face of the changes and the overall safety of Jews across the diaspora (generally speaking) that we can display our menorah in our windows, and let the Light within us shine to the world.
We are not simply remembering a story of the Greeks. We are not simply covering our butts from missing the holiday of Sukkot. We are celebrating that we are still here. Our Light is still here. And we are still bringing down the Light of Existence from Hashem, through us, and into the world.
Am Yisrael Chai.
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Chag Chanukah Sameach!
Sunset isn't until at least another 3 hours here, but needed to get the candles lit before bedtime
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So tonight's menu is:
Chicken Katsu
Latkes
Strawberry Short Cake (Japanese Christmas thing also from the local Asian bakery and is amazing)
Hanukkah doughnuts
Latkes cooked, about to head to my parents. Happy Hanukkah all!
but they taste like latkes.
there's something with the combination of the potato starch, the flour, egg, and the frying oil that gives them a very particular taste that I can't really describe.
it's a very specific flavour. best i can say is, just try and make them yourself and see what you think.
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the biggest tips i can give are
make sure you squeeze as much potato juice out of the shredded potatoes as possible. there's more in them than you think.
don't have your oil too hot, or you'll burn the outside and not cook the inside
make sure your vent works, or the house will smell of oil for days. Days.
also you don't need to just do potatoes. you can add in carrots, zucchini, sweet potato, etc.
but if you want to experience old fashioned ashkenazi potato latkes, it's just potato, onion, egg, flour,and oil.
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This is the recipe I used today. It's latkes but Ukrainian style.
you need either applesauce or sour cream, those are the usual traditional toppings.
I personally like both, but there are definitely folks that insist one is better than the other.
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No surprise that this year was Wicked themed for both of them
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FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
So, of course, I'm totally about as WASPish as you can get (my mother is a Daughter of the American Revolution), so prior to the course I gave myself a crash course in the history of the Maccabees and it's really fascinating! From a historical perspective there are so many parallels to other independence movements throughout history. Of course the easiest comparison would be to the US Revolution where the early US managed to use diplomacy to convince France to put economic pressure on England (including a huge influx of cash) to fun the war effort. Similarly the Maccabeans managed to convince a young Roman Republic to put pressure on the Greeks which ultimately help win the war.
So they won their independence and achieved a hundred years of prosperity until the eventual corruption of the royal family gave the Romans an excuse to come in and "clear things up" to protect their economic interests.
Anyway a familiar and yet unique story of humankind and our yearning for self-determination, no matter who we are. Fun and interesting to delve into if you're into history at all.