Posts Tagged ‘Chanukah’

8 Nights, One Special Memory…Pt. 2

On the first and last nights of Chanukah, everyone gathered at sundown in the deli   which remained open to the rest of the neighborhood, and saw many others living there coming into it   to say prayers, light a big Menorah, and tell the story of the miracle of Chanukah.  There were free sufganiyots, those jelly-filled donuts that are a traditional treat for the holiday.  On the 2nd through 7th nights, the families in the building rotated through hosting all the other families for a dinner, with the kids playing dreidel for gelt while waiting for the meal, and a small gift for each of us, from the host family, afterward.  By the time I returned home I confess I was sick of latkes, but otherwise glowing.

Short of traveling to Israel, I’m not sure I can imagine anywhere else besides NYC where I could have gotten that kind of experience.  I am blessed to have lived in an area which is infused with so much culture that you are never alone with your beliefs, and your spirit is never left cold, without traditions to wrap itself in.

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8 Nights, One Special Memory…Pt. 1

The year I was ten, Chanukah fell during the Christmas vacation that all the schools had, and so I was free to travel deeper into New York City from the outskirts where I lived, and celebrate the holiday with some of my cousins in the Lower East Side neighborhood.  They lived in an apartment building over a deli, owned by the couple that lived in one of the apartments.  I had stayed with these cousins before, on other special occasions, but never for 8 nights, which was the plan this time.

It was certainly a Chanukah like no other in my life.  All six apartments in their building were lived in by Jewish families.  That was common enough in such a historic Jewish community as that neighborhood of the city, but it was a novel experience for me, who was hard-pressed to discover any potential Jewish friends in my school, despite our area supposedly having a fairly high Jewish population.  Yet, there I was, in what turned out to be an entire building of shared faith and celebration.

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NYC Trip Saved by the Menorah

It was close to fifteen years ago and my father decided to take us on a trip to NYC. It was going to be me and my younger sister. After getting off of the train, our first stop was going to be the much talked about FAO Schwartz. We got to the store and the line was so long, it was around the block. My father found a small back entrance and we went in. It was so crowded that even though we were in; we could not really do anything. We were younger and my father was of course scared of us getting lost so we left. Our first stop was ruined but we still did not lose hope. Our next stop was going to be a small tour of a news station but of course all of their tickets were sold out. We decided to just walk and see what we can find. As we started our walk, parts of the streets were closed down due to a movie being filmed. Finally it was getting late and we were tired. We traveled a little to watch the giant Menorah being lit. A whole day of doing nothing but to see the Menorah lit, yet it was all worth it. The lights were so bright it literally lit up the cold dark night of Manhattan.

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Happy Chanukah!

Happy Chanukah from ALLNY.com and the Moments blog!

Chanukah Menorah

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Chanukah Gelt

One year, my husband and I wanted to do something different to please our teen-aged daughter when Chanukah rolled around again. She was past the age for receiving toys, and she liked to choose her own books from the local New York Public Library.
We knew she could most use (and would most appreciate) some Chanukah gelt, but we did not wish to simply put some in an envelope for her. That would have been far too boring, far too prosaic. So, we waited until she had finally fallen fast asleep. We knew that she slept like the proverbial log, and that nothing short of a 7.0 earthquake could rouse her. Then we crept into her room, armed with little flashlights and a large stack of crisp, new dollar bills that we had gotten from the savings bank earlier in the day. We set to work very quietly on the wall just behind and above her bed. Little by little we positioned and scotch-taped the bills up, taking turns doing the holding and the taping. When we had finished our work, we crept back out as silently as we had entered.
In the morning, our daughter emerged from her room with a great big grin on her face. She had awakened that morning to HAPPY CHANUKAH written on her wall in 45 one-dollar bills!

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The Biggest Menorah Ever

The first Chanukah that I spent in New York City was amazing. I met with three other friends who had also recently moved to the city. We decided that because we had not yet found a synagogue and had no money to go home , we would celebrate the holiday differently. We opted to go to Grand Army Plaza to see the world’s largest menorah be lit. We heard about the ceremony from some people we went to school with. the gathering was amazing. We were able to fellowship with others. The lighting is a fairly simple process, however it requires a cherry picker. The rabbi climbs in and is lifted to the top to light the menorah.There were people of all faiths who were in the crowd. A few people sang , one woman was even crying. It was touching because everything was in such a large scale. After the lighting ceremony, we walked and got hot tea. We snacked on the free chocolate gelt that had been handed out and went home. The experience was a different one than I had ever had on Chanukah, but it was a beautiful one. I would tell anyone , whether or not they are Jewish to see this tradition in person.

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