Foto Friday – Hanukkah light

December 3, 2010 - 2:46 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Environment, Foto Friday, General, News, Religion 

Hanukkah, like its other winter holiday counterparts, is all about light. This fact was pointed out to me once by a religion news reporter (yes, there are such beings), who also noted a peculiar human trait: that of making the best of things: as the days grow short, rather than curse the darkness, we celebrate the days with candles and light.

We light candles at Hanukkah (or wicks floated on olive oil) to honor the memory of the Temple rebuilt and its seven-branched menorah, with a nine-branched variant: one flame for each day of the holiday, plus the central, utilitarian shamash.

How sad, how sad and terribly ironic that the holiday which we celebrate with tiny points of light should be marred by the largest conflagration in modern Israel’s history. The winter drought – also history-making as Israel’s longest – made it a snap for the fire to take hold and spread in all its fury.

Tonight, as the flames begin to die down, we will light the third candle of Hanukkah and Friday night candlesticks. Sabbath will be followed by the work week where, together with our national mourning for lives lost and the destruction of our environment, there will be the inevitable finger-pointing, holding-of-accounts and passing-of-the-buck. Before the noise begins, take a quiet moment to consider light, the kind that illuminates the darkness and brings us joy.


© RomKri

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Foto Friday – Hanukkah in Jerusalem

December 11, 2009 - 5:41 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture, Travel 

Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, starts tonight with the lighting of the first candle on the hannukiya – the seven-branched menorah. Jerusalemites have a tradition of lighting oil based hannukiyot encased in glass boxes against the wind. It is a beautiful sight.


© pmos_nmos

Of course, it is more dramatic when lit up at night!


© RomKri


© RomKri

Hanukkah this year fell on a chilly Friday but despite the foreboding clouds it felt like the city was settling into a holiday mood, with young couples taking their babies out for a stroll at the new Mamilla Mall and overwhelming demand for sufganiyot at the Roladin bakery-cafe.

roladin_sufganiyot_box_menuBoth Nicky and David have blogged about the caloric and nutritional disaster that is our local holiday fare, so I will only add that Roladin has, for several years now, taken up the mantle of master sufganiya baker. They’ve created a whole series of so-called gourmet doughnut delights – the “Hanukkah Collection 2009″ – ranging from pistachio and banana to dulce de leche as well as the traditional red mystery jam. They’ve also devised a gaily decorated long square box for easy transport.

This week’s photos of Hanukkah in Jerusalem are courtesy of the wonderful Jerusalem Shots site. I should note that, as I do each time before sitting down to write the holiday column, I tried to figure out the current spelling of the Festival of Lights’ name, this time putting Google on the case with the following results: Hanukkah – 1,920,000 hits; Chanuka – 222,000; Hanuka – 219,000; Hannukah – 141,000 ; Channukah – 129,000; Chanukka – 71,800; Hannuka – 66,100. So, (although it’s not spelled as it was when I was a girl) — Hanukkah wins.

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Nostalgia Sunday – Children’s Song Festival

December 21, 2008 - 8:32 PM by · 5 Comments
Filed under: General 

Channuka… let’s make that Hannuka… is upon us. Tonight the first candle on the menorah is lit and the country enters into a week-long frenzy of “Omigod, what are we going do with the kids?” That is because Hannuka in Israel means seven days of vacation for the kiddies and their teachers, (and yes, the parents still have to work).

For this reason, Hannuka in Israel also means Festigal, a high-priced, must-see music contest and show for the little ones, their siblings and long-suffering, short-fused parents. A one-time upstart competitor from Haifa to the Israel Children’s Song Festival, a song contest that had its heyday in the 1970s, Festigal got started in the early 1980s and became the juggernaut of Hannuka kiddie shows by 1987, the year the Children’s Song Festival up and died.

Festigal is the yardstick by which all other Hannuka children’s shows are judged – they pay to get the biggest and most beloved stars – meaning that talent ranges from the hottest Children’s Channel babes and boytoys, to others currently residing in the ‘where are they now?’ bin, and those in between. In short, no other show is louder, more garish, more obnoxious or more in demand. You can’t get tickets for love or money by now. Honest.

In contrast, a medley of festival songs from more innocent days.

Okay, I really have to link to the full clip of Zvika Pick, Israel’s then-answer to David Bowie, Alice Cooper or Peter Frampton, depending on who he was channeling that year. (Today with a reality show, he’s currently Ozzy Osbourne). In this song, “The Soap Cried A Lot,” he tells a tale of woe about some bathroom accessories and a little boy who won’t wash. Enjoy at your peril – and Happy Hannuka!

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