November 30, 2012: Hanukkah Edition

Sponsored by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Endowment Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA

Celebrating Hanukkah

November 30, 2012 | 16 Kislev 5773 Vol. 93 | No. 11 2 Sections

2 | The Jewish Press | November 30, 2012

Introduction

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You are a Maccabee

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Editor of the Jewish Press The reason the issue you are holding -- as I’m sure you’ve guessed from the fabulous front page -- is larger than usual: Hanukkah is almost here. Time races by, as always; it’s hard to believe 2012 is entering its final month. But, here it is: another calendar year gone, and it is almost time to light that first candle.

With Hanukkah so early this year, it almost seems as if everything kind of blends together. One long holiday, from Rosh Hashanah through now -- and for those of you who have interfaith families, there’s Christmas to boot. Many people celebrate Halloween, although without any religious meaning, there’s Thanksgiving and, of course, the regular New Year’s Eve. All of it leading to a somewhat depressing January, when there’s not much to look forward to.

Apparently, we feel the overwhelming need to mark our days, our seasons, either because Torah tells us to, because it’s a cultural or national custom, or because we’ve made up additional and somewhat random reasons to come together and have a feast.

The danger, when we mix so many things, is that we forget that each and every Jewish holiday should stand on its own. They all deserve attention and awe. Hanukkah, because it comes towards the end of the calendar year, sometimes gets a bit of a raw deal. Hanukkah is like the last kid picked on the playground, like an overindulgent dessert after a too rich main course. It’s become materialistic, is often accused

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of competing with Christmas (as if), and who needs more calories? Everything fried in oil, really? It’s pure excess. And those presents aren’t cheap either (and, just in case my children read this: we are NOT adopting another kitten. Please stop asking).

As I said, a raw deal. Hanukkah doesn’t deserve to be treated as an afterthought; it deserves praise. Praise for what it stands for: brightening up the darkest days of the year, and commemorating that there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. I like to imagine that’s what those Maccabees would tell us, even when our tunnel isn’t half as dark or narrow as theirs was.

There is more we can learn from the Maccabees, and it has nothing to do with gift giving or Sufganyot. Let’s face it: we often look at the story of Judah Maccabee as if it is a bit of a fairy tale, an action movie, a fable to tell our children.

Nothing too serious, because regardless of the situation in Israel, we don’t really have anything in common with those Jews of old, struggling to survive, swords dripping with the blood of their oppressors. And that whole story of battle and slaughter -- well, it makes us almost a little uncomfortable, so we take it with a grain of salt. Spin that dreidel, and eat your chocolate coins. Violence belongs on television.

But, I have to say it, those Maccabees kicked butt. I for one would love to possess that type of tenacity. Of course, I hope to never be in a position where I have to prove that statement, but wouldn’t it be nice to identify with those who succeed in the face of enormous adversity? Those who don’t

give up, never give in, but fight until the bitter end? Admit it.

Every time you heard that story as a child, you cheered a little on the inside, and you envisioned yourself standing up to Antiochus. As adults, we should remember that feeling, and be proud of it. We don’t have to be so shy. After all, Torah is filled with strong Jews who didn’t back down when the going got tough.

We may no longer strap on an actual sword, but have a symbolic one in our sense of community. We still stick together, and therein lies our current strength. It can be found in our sense of family, during the holidays and at all other times. There’s strength in numbers; it’s much more than a cliché. We may not always agree on everything (I don’t think that’s even possible) but we are all part of this community, and we are blessed to be here. And just like the Maccabees, we should fight for it. Not by waging actual physical battles, but by stepping up, caring, and getting actively involved in what goes on in our community. Join the JCC Hanukkah party, sign up for a class, or volunteer a few hours when you can. Visit Friedel during their latke lunch on Dec. 7, check out a book from the Kripke library, go to www.jewishomaha.org and find out what the Cultural Arts Department is up to. And while you’re there, check out the news updates in the Jewish Press section.

We wish everyone a fabulous Hanukkah; we hope you celebrate it with those you love; we hope the latkes turn out perfect, and you don’t run out of antacids. Go ahead, strap on your sword. You are a Maccabee.

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Hanukkah: Five lessons of the holiday to unwrap

by ELLEN FRANKEL and RABBI BARUCH HALEVI Hanukkah begins on the Hebrew calendar date of 25 Kislev and lasts for eight days. This year, the holiday is celebrated from Dec. 8-16. The story of Hanukkah chronicles the four-year war which took place between 167 BCE-163 BCE as oppressed Jews struggled under the rule of Antiochus IV of the Syrian-Greeks. Jews were forbidden to follow their ritual observances and pagan worship was introduced into their sacred Temple. It is also about a civil war between those Jews who aligned themselves with the Greek-Syrian ways and the Maccabees, a small group of Jews who resisted such assimilation. The holiday culminates in the retaking and re-dedicating of the Temple in Jerusalem and relighting the seven-branched candelabra that was supposed to always remain lit. The long-ago story of Hanukkah offers lessons for people of all faiths wrestling with challenges today. Here are five ideas that Hanukkah, also referred to as The Festival of Lights, can teach us: Moving from darkness to light: We have all experienced dark periods in our lives. Sometimes that darkness stems from an individual struggle, like the loss of a job, a loved one, or a sense of purpose in one’s life. At other times, it is a collective darkness, like the kind we all experienced Sept. 11, 2001 and in its aftermath. When darkness spreads, it can lead to despair and hopelessness and it is important to recognize that place before we can transcend it. Sometimes the situation calls for outward action, while other times what is needed is inward reflection. When the Maccabees revolted against the darkness they faced as a result of the increasingly harsh treatment imposed upon them and their freedoms, they chose outward action. When it came time to re-dedi-

cate both themselves and their Temple, they called upon inward meditation to take the first step of faith in using the tiny amount of available oil to reignite the sacred light of the Temple and to rekindle their souls. As the story of the miracle of Hanukkah goes, they only had enough sacred oil to last for one day, but the oil burned for eight days, long enough for the time needed to make more oil. During Hanukkah, the shamash, or helper candle, is used to light an additional candle each night, culminating in eight burning flames and reminding us that by simply lighting one candle, we have the opportunity to light many candles. In that lighting, we see that our own light is never diminished when we share our light with others. As the days grow shorter and the air chills, the celebration of Hanukkah shines light into the darkness and teaches us to rededicate ourselves to kindling the flame of hope.

Standing up for oppression: The Festival of Lights is also a story about seeking freedom in times of tyranny. Though small in number against a powerful group, the Maccabees fought to regain their rights and in the end triumphed, as they reclaimed their Temple. These were ordinary people with extraordinary courage and commitment to fight for their freedoms. Today, we see people both at home and abroad who are oppressed and marginalized. We are reminded that it is incumbent upon us, ordinary men and women, to fight for justice where we see injustice, and for liberty where we see oppression. It is important that we fight on behalf of our own freedoms as well as those of our fellow human beings. As Rabbi Hillel so famously said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

Finding the Balance: The concept of assimilation figures large in the story of Hanukkah. How does a community or a group maintain its identity in relation to the culture at large?

How much will it resist outside influences and how much will it embrace those influences? When the Maccabees revolted against the Syrian-Greeks, they were also revolting against a Hellenistic culture and philosophy. Yet as a result of living within the culture at large, Judaism moved from being philosophically illiterate to becoming a systematic and coherent faith. From the Greeks, and later the Romans, they learned the principles of legal interpretation which became the method of interpreting Jewish law in the Talmud. Many

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of the words central to the Jewish faith are Greek words, such as synagogue, Diaspora, Sanhedrin (the Rabbinical high court) and even the word Judaism, itself. Just as it is important to find the balance of retaining one’s culture and tradition while also being open to the gifts of the larger community, so too must we find this balance in our personal relationships. How do we connect with others without losing ourselves? Hanukkah offers an opportunity to find the balance in retaining our identity while still being connected and involved with people and communities outside of ourselves.

Taking the first step: Every day we are faced with daunting tasks. Solving the deficit, fighting discrimination, ending wars and seeking a more peaceful world. It can feel overwhelming just thinking about it -- let alone figuring out where to even begin. As the story of Hanukkah goes, when the Maccabees returned to their Temple after the war, the first thing they needed to do was to relight the eternal flame.

But the needed oil was eight days away. It would be easy to despair, after years of fighting and now realizing they were lacking the resources needed to move forward. But, as the story is told, the Maccabees decided it had been too long since the eternal light had been ignited and so they took a first step. Despite having only enough oil for one day, they committed themselves to starting the process of rededicating themselves and the Temple by starting where they were, and taking it one day at a time. Whether factually true or not, we celebrate the fact that the oil miraculously burned for the needed eight days until more oil could be made. But the miracle only happened after people took the first step. In this story, we are reminded of the words of the Talmud: “It is not upon you to finish the work, but you are not free to ignore it.” We each have a role to play in creating a better world by taking that first step, and then the next and the next.

Seeing the miracles: The idea of miracles surround the holiday season. Jews celebrate the oil that was meant to last for only one day burning brightly for eight days. When the menorah is lit, an opportunity is provided to tap into that miracle of light, shattering the darkness and opening to a world of possibilities. This time of year is about the movement from darkness to light in both the spiritual and material world, and is strengthened by one’s own faith while creating space and celebration for the faiths of others. Whether Continued on page 4

The armest anukkah reetings from s to ou.

W H G U Y

4 | The Jewish Press | November 30, 2012

December Mainstreeters activities

by OZZIE NOGG Thursday, Dec. 6: Tie One On with Lois Wine, 10-11 a.m. in the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home Board Room.

Attention, all you Fashionistas! In this one hour session, Lois will teach you how to add a touch of elegance to any outfit by showing different, trendy ways to tie your scarves that are perfect for any type of Nebraska weather. This classy class is totally free of charge.

Reservations needed by Dec. 3. Contact Maggie Conti Lois Wine today at 402-334-6521.

Friday, Dec. 7: The American Soldier, from the Civil War to the War in Iraq: A Photographic Tribute. The event will be held at the Durham Western Heritage Museum, 801 South 10th Street. Tour begins at 10 a.m. The American Soldier is curated and produced by Cyma Rubin. The 116 photographs selected for the exhibition show how America’s wars have looked “on the ground” -- through the eyes of the men and women who have fought them, and through the lenses of the photographers who have bravely accompanied America’s combat forces into battle. The tour costs $5 a person but is free to members of the Durham. Bring your card.

Following the tour, an optional STAR DELI lunch is available in the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home Auditorium.

Deadline for reservations is Friday, Nov. 30. If you have questions about transportation or lunch, please call Jim Wax at 402.393.4442.

Monday, Dec. 17, 12:30 p.m. Chanukah Lunch Celebration in the Blumkin Home Auditorium with Tim Javorsky and The Great American Jewish Songbook.

Saxophone player and vocalist Tim Javorsky has a passion for entertaining people. While in college studying classical saxophone and voice, he started a DJ service, entertaining people at school functions, weddings, etc. His wife, Dorothy, encouraged his involvement in other musical endeavors such as Lincoln Civic Orchestra, and the Lincoln Community Concert Band. Tim likes to emulate his many jazz influences such as Louie Armstrong, Stan Getz and Paul Desmond. Don’t miss this musical treat. Chanukah Luncheon choices include Mushroom Barley Soup, a scoop of egg and tuna salad, challah rolls, latkes with apple sauce and sour cream, plus soft serve ice cream with Oreo cookies. Note: Chef Mike Aparo will fry up the latkes before your eyes!

Lunch is $11.50 per plate. Make checks payable to Jewish Social Services and send full payment to: Mainstreeters c/o Maggie Conti, 323 So. 132 Street, Omaha, NE 68154.

Reservations must be received by Monday, Dec. 10. For information call Maggie at 402.334.6521.

Join Us at the Movies: Moonrise Kingdom. Friday, Dec. 21, 1 p.m. in the JCC Theater. No charge for the film or for unlimited bags of fresh, delicious popcorn. No reservations necessary. Invite a pal. Warm, whimsical, and poignant, Moonrise Kingdom takes place on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965. It tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authori-

Five lessons of the holiday Continued from page 3 it’s a Hanukkah menorah that we kindle, or a Christmas tree that we light, or the candles we burn on a kinara in celebration of Kwanzaa, we reignite the flame of awe for the miracles before us everyday, when we open our eyes and our hearts. We celebrate the miracle of friends and family whom we love and are loved by; the miracle of having the chance to learn something new every day;

Rabbi Baruch HaLevi

the miracle of our collective curiosity, creativity and compassion that moves us forward in both our individual and our collective stories. Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

Too often, the holidays have become commercialized and the season can feel pressured with shopping and rushing and planning. Taking a step back can offer the opportunity to connect with the wisdom of tradition and to rekindle the spirit of today and the hope of tomorrow.

Ellen Frankel and Rabbi Baruch HaLevi are the coauthors of Revolution of Jewish Spirit: How to Revive Ruakh in Your Spiritual Life, Transform Your Synagogue & Inspire Your Jewish Community (Jewish Lights 2012). You can visit them at: www.revolutionofjewishspirit.com/.

Wishing the Jewish Community a Happy Hanukkah!

B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Alan Potash, our local Anti-Defamation League director will join Ken Jackson, Deputy National Director of the ADL in Washington, DC. to discuss the Gaza War II, the organizations’ 100th Anniversary, anti-Semitism and more on Wednesday, Dec. 5, noon at the Blumkin Home. An optional buffet lunch costs $11; beverage service only is $3.

For more information or to be placed on the email list call 402.334.6443 or bnaibrith@jewishomaha.org.

LOMIR REDN YIDDISH The Yiddish language is a wonderful source of rich expressions, especially terms of endearment (and of course, complaints and insults!).

Come join us for fun and laughter. We meet in the boardroom of the Blumkin Home, every Thursday from 1-3 p.m.

For information, please call Anne Skolkin at 402.343.1638.

LOVE (League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly) Shop for Hanukkah in the LOVE Gift Shop on Main Street in the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. Gift Shop hours are Tuesdays 1–3:30 p.m., Wednesdays 2–3:30 p.m. A special day of shopping will be on Sunday, Dec. 2, 1–4 p.m.

There is a wide assortment of gifts to select from. Jewelry, Games, Serve ware, Toys, Ties, and Hanukkah cards, Questions? Call Lois Wine 402.334.6519.

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ties try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing offshore -- and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents. If you’d like to have lunch at the Star Deli in the Rose Blumkin Home Auditorium before the show, call Maggie Conti at 402.334.6521 to reserve a table.

Lunch is not included.

The Star Deli starts serving at 11:30 a.m.

Mainstreeters welcomes all Jewish residents of the Omaha area age 60 plus. The group offers events that give participants the chance to meet new people, exercise their brains, take part in new activities and continue enjoying life to the fullest. Maggie Conti, Director of Activities and Outreach Programs at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, said, “We invite you to jump on board of Mainstreeters in December. Winter is the perfect time to participate in our cool activities.”

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Hanukkah Reflections Murray Newman, our Pacesetter Chair, and Anne Shackman, our Lion of Judah Chair, embraced the multigenerational approach and are speaking to community families with great enthusiasm.

JODY MALASHOCK, President, Jewish Federation of Omaha Five of our Lions recently In our Hanukkah stories, we are told traveled to New York City to attend the Lion about the brave and fearless Judah of Judah conference and celebrate with our Maccabee, but far too often an equally great own Nancy Noddle as she received the diswarrior of the Maccabean revolt, Judith tinguished Kipnis-Wilson Friedland Award. (whose slaying of the Greek general As a past Ediar chapter President and Holofernes aided in our victory), goes Cornbelt region President of BBYO, it’s great unmentioned. knowing that Omaha was host to a recordWe have talked a lot about change in our breaking BBYO regional convention on community. Last year, we worked hard on Sept. 28. BBYO’s four local chapters have structural and operational change as part of strong youth leadership, are growing in our CEO model of governance. This year, numbers and, with help from our new we worked hard at a type of change that, BBYO director and advisors, hosted over while much harder to quantify, brings even 100 teens from St. Louis, Kansas City and greater reward... a change in the feeling of Minneapolis. our community through greater participaOur Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of tion and inclusion. I’d like to point out a few Directors is to be commended for its swift of our own Maccabean-style “victories” that and decisive action in approving a $5000.00 brought our community great rewards. donation to JFNA’s Hurricane Relief Fund Much like Judah and Judith, we have fan- on behalf of our entire community. As Jews, tastic “warrior” leaders who really made an we aid those in need, especially in times of impact this year. Our Annual Campaign crisis, and Hurricane Sandy is no exception.

Co-chairs, Zoe and Carl Riekes and Stacey That we were able to respond as a commuand Brett Atlas made this year’s Campaign nity, as a family, was made all the more sigall about families and their multi-genera- nificant during an Annual Campaign season tional approach illustrates the importance of that shares the same theme. building upon the incredible investment of As you and your loved ones are reflected those who came before us. With their cre- in the light of your Hanukkah candles, take ative direction, “can do” attitude and natural a moment to reflect on your community. leadership, more than 600 of us came You are a part of the great family that is together in celebration and enjoyed a fabu- Jewish Omaha. We want everyone to take lous Beatlemania community event; one part, get involved and enjoy all that we do. that is still being talked about.

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First Friday at Temple Israel

by DAVID GOLBITZ Temple Israel Staff Writer While the previous First Friday dinners have been successful, Temple Israel is expecting an even bigger crowd for its annual Hanukkah service and traditional holiday meal. “ W i t h Hanukkah falling early on the calendar this year, it overlaps with our December First Friday service and meal on the 7th, and instead of postponing one of the services, we decided to combine them,” Program Director Wendy Goldberg said. “Yes, technically Hanukkah begins the night of Saturday, Dec. 8, but why wait to celebrate? We can call it an Erev Hanukkah dinner.”

The evening will begin with snacks and candle lighting at 5:30 p.m. in the lobby, followed by the service at 6 p.m. in the sanctuary. Temple Israel’s 4th grade Religious School students will participate in the service and lead the blessings before dinner.

Temple Israel will also be offering a Tot Shabbat service for families with children ages five and under. The children will celebrate Shabbat and Hanukkah with songs, dancing and a short story told by the clergy.

Dinner will be a traditional Hanukkah spread of brisket, vegetables, latkes and applesauce (both homemade) and dessert.

Members are welcome to come and help prepare the latkes on Thursday Dec. 6, from 12 to 3 p.m. Families are also asked to bring menorahs to set on the tables.

Temple Israel First Fridays are sponsored

by Bob and Elly Gordman, Andie Gordman and Dan Fitzgerald, and Lindsey

Thomas, in memory of Brandon Thomas.

There is no charge to attend, but reservations are required. Members are asked to contact Temple Israel at 402.556.6536 or email RSVP@templeisraelomaha.com.

Temple Israel is also collecting children’s winter clothing to donate to those in need.

Bring your donation of new or gently used winter hats, gloves, warm socks, scarves and winter coats to Temple Israel.

And that’s not all. In addition to the First Friday/ Hanukkah service, Temple Israel is offering more ways to celebrate the Festival of Lights with a latke cooking contest.

Whether you’re a great latke chef, or you just like to eat them, Temple Israel invites one and all to its First Annual Latke CookOff on Sunday, Dec. 9. Entrants are asked to arrive at Temple Israel at 10:30 a.m. to prepare their already-cooked latkes.

“Due to space limitations, we’re asking those who want to participate to cook their latkes at home and then bring them to Temple where we can warm them up in our ovens,” Goldberg said. “Next year, in our new building, we’ll have a larger kitchen area where everyone can make their latkes on site.”

Latkes will be judged in three categories from 11 a.m. to noon: Kids’ Choice, People’s Choice and Most Unusual/ Creative Recipe. The winner will take home the coveted Temple Israel Golden Spatula award.

Latke chefs who wish to vie for the Golden Spatula are asked to contact Wendy Goldberg at wgoldberg@templeisraelomaha.com to enter.

happy

Hanukkah May the warmth and glow of each candle you light, make your heart and home happy and your Hanukkah

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The Bucket Schlep: Omaha’s Sandy recovery project On Wednesday, Nov. 28, all Omaha area fire stations will “Omaha is the best community, and having the Omaha begin collecting supplies to be sent to New York to assist Fire Department express interest was such a blessing,” said with the cleanup following Hurricane Sandy. Collection will Silverman. “It was the last piece of the puzzle that we needcontinue for two weeks concluding on Wednesday, Dec. 12. ed to make this happen in the best way possible. The place Tunnel to Towers, a non-profthat we are shipping to, it foundation in Staten Island, Tunnel to Towers, is an NY, will be receiving the organization that was started cleanup items. If you’ve been Please note: NO CLOTHING, NO CASH, to honor the memory of wondering how to help, this NO LIQUIDS Stephen Siller who was a New Cleaning Supplies: could not make it easier.

York firefighter who died on When Hurricane Sandy Clorox WIPES (wipes only), Mops, Large Shovels, 9/11 -- and we thought that ravaged New Jersey and New Brooms, Buckets, Garbage Cans, Dust Masks, Heavy this was such a great connecYork a few weeks ago, Omaha Duty Garbage Bags, Rubber Gloves, Work Gloves, Rags, tion. The Omaha Fire departresident Hillary Fletcher of Plastic Tarps ment has been wonderful to Hampton Bays, NY, was conwork with.”

Toiletries: tacted by a friend from Silverman and Fletcher also New/IN PACKAGE Underwear (all sizes), Diapers, Brooklyn, now in Omaha, and welcome notes of encourageasked what they could possi- Feminine Hygiene Products, Toilet Paper, Bar Soap, ment. Fletcher remarked, bly do to help their friends Toothbrushes, Toothpaste, Floss, Band-Aids, Baby “We’ve been following this and family so far away. wipes pretty closely. The images Fletcher in turn contacted her Pet Supplies: leave me speechless every friend Mimi Silverman from Dog and cat food time. I thought maybe we Oceanside, NY, also now of could make this better by Omaha. Together they started putting together a plan and sending some good thoughts along with the buckets and with the help of Jon Meyers and his shipping company, mops.” They encourage writing your note right on the packCannonball Express Transportation, Co., they were well on age or supplies you’re bringing. “Our hope is to make a few their way to making things happen. Partnering with the people smile along the way,” said Fletcher.

Omaha Fire Department, they are hopeful that Omaha will To find the fire department closest to you, please visit turn out as they did during Katrina and fill at least one eight- www.omaha-fire.org. Items can be dropped off at any time een wheeler with cleanup items for parts of New York. between Nov. 28 and Dec. 12.

Items being collected

Hanukkah Recollections

by NANCY RIPS Editor’s note: In 2011, local author Nancy Rips, a.k.a, the Book Maven, published Hanukkah Stories, a collection of stories, personal recollections, jokes and vignettes from a variety of contributors. What follows are excerpts from that book. Nancy’s books can be purchased at the Bookworm, or through www.Amazon.com. For more information about this and other books by Nancy, please visit www.nancyrips.com.

Latkes, Jewish Weapons of Mass Destruction, are pancake-like structures not to be confused with anything a first-class health restaurant would serve. In a latke, the oil remains inside the pancake. It could be used to shine your shoes or lubricate your automobile. There is a rumor that in the time of the Maccabees, they lit a latke by mistake, and it burned for eight months. What is certain is that you will have heartburn for at least the same amount of time.

— Synagogue Bulletin Let me tell you the one thing I have against Moses. He took us 40 years into the desert in order to bring us to the one place in the Middle East that has no oil.

— Golda Meir Ben dies and goes to heaven. The first person he sees is his beloved old teacher, Rabbi Morris. But he was stunned to see the rabbi, sitting in a leopard brocaded chair, with a former lady of the evening in his lap.

“Rabbi, how could you?” asked Ben. “You were always the most righteous man. You conducted Shabbat services, led the Hanukkah blessings. What happened? Is she your reward for living such an honorable life?”

“No, Ben, she is not my reward,” explained the rabbi. “I’m her punishment.”

— Edward Bernstein The Maccabees won, and they went to the Temple. Then the animals went to the bathroom. After that the Maccabees cleaned up, and then they found the oil and lit the menorah.

That’s the story of the Maccabees.

— Nina Pickus, age 4.

Shirley was giving directions to her grandson who was coming to her new apartment for dinner on the first night of

Hanukkah. She said, “Come to the front door of the apartment building. I’m in 19D. There’s a big panel at the door.

Push button 19D with your elbow.

Then I’ll buzz you in. Come inside. The elevator is on the right. Get in, and with your elbow hit 19. When you get out, I’m on the right. Then with your elbow, hit my doorbell.”

“Okay, Grandma, I’ll do it, but why am I hitting all those buttons with my elbow?”

“You’re coming empty-handed?”

— Synagogue Bulletin Five-year-old Zachary was confused.

His mother told him they didn’t believe in Christmas, and they didn’t believe in Santa Claus. Thinking this over, he asked, “Do we believe in winter?”

— Phyllis Hirsch Six-year-old Olivia was having dinner at her grandma’s house the first night of Hanukkah. When everyone sat down, and the food was served, she began eating.

Her mom said, “Sweetheart, we have to wait till we say the prayer.”

“I don’t have to,” Olivia piped up.

“Dear, don’t we always say a prayer before we eat at our house?”

“Yes,” Olivia answered, “but this is Grandma’s house. She knows how to cook.”

— Patty Leventhall

Switch day

by OZZIE NOGG Tuesday, Dec. 25, is Switch Day at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home -- the annual opportunity for members of the community to volunteer at the Home, cover for nonJewish staff, and give them time off to spend the Christmas holiday with their families. “Whether you’re a veteran volunteer or a wanna-be, this is the perfect way to get involved,” said Lois Wine, Director of Volunteer Services.

Volunteer options for Switch Day include lending a hand in the kitchen with meal prep and food service, calling tiles for the residents’ Bingo game, serving goodies at Tea Time plus assisting with other activities throughout the day. “Every minute you can spend at the RBJH is welcome and appreciated, by the residents and by the staff,” Wine said. “If you’d like more details on hours, what slots need to be filled, and how you can be part of Switch Day, please call me at 402.334.6519. I’ll be happy to tailor a volunteer experience that will fit the time you have available.”

November 30, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 7

Free Jewish children’s books available from the PJ Library

Hanukkah at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home

by BETH COHEN Executive Director, The Center for Jewish Life Jewish children in Omaha are eligible to receive a monthly gift of free, age-appropriate Jewish-content books through PJ Library, a program designed to strengthen the identities of Jewish families and their relationship to the Jewish community. PJ Library offers free, high quality books and music each month to more than 100,000 children in over 175 communities in the United States, Canada and Israel. Jewish children in Omaha who are ages six months through eight years old can take advantage of this amazing opportunity.

“PJ Library has quietly been available in Omaha for a number of years, but we are ready to shout it from the rooftops as we try to get 100 children signed up this month,” explains Bonnie Bloch, president of the Center for Jewish Life. “We are officially launching our effort at the Children’s Jewish Book Month event on Saturday, Dec. 8 at 6 p.m. at the Omaha Children’s Museum. But, if you can’t make it to that event, you can still sign up to be part of the PJ Family by stopping by the Kripke Jewish Federation Library or following the link on the CJL web page.” The Center for Jewish Life can be found on the web at www.jewishomaha.org.

PJ Library is available to Jewish children in the Omaha metro area. Children receiving books must reside at the address where the books are mailed. Sorry, grandparents, you can’t get PJ Library books delivered to your house, but you can check to see if out-

by OZZIE NOGG Residents of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home will observe the Festival of Hanukkah with eight different events, and each will bring increased light and joy to the facility.

“We invite family and friends to join us for these celebratory gatherings,” said Michael Schop, RBJH Assistant Administrator.

“Please put these dates and times on your calendars and be part of Hanukkah at the Home.”

• Saturday, Dec. 8 at 2:30 p.m., Rabbi Azriel of Temple Israel will light the first candle and tell the story of Hanukkah. At 7 p.m. in the Blumkin Home.

The Kronberg Ensemble will present a program of Antonin Dvorak's String Sextet in A major and a selection of duos by Bela Bartok, based on Hungarian folk tunes. The Kronberg Ensemble is a small non-profit professional string chamber ensemble based in Omaha.

• Sunday, Dec. 9 at 2:30 p.m., L.O.V.E. volunteers will light the second candle, host a special Hanukkah Tea Time and present gifts to all the residents. Our special musical guest, Michael Lyon, will present musical interludes before Tea Time, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

• Monday, Dec. 10 at 2:30 p.m., the third candle will be lit by students from the Friedel Jewish Academy. The kids will also sing Hanukkah songs. At 7 p.m. that evening, all families named Cohen, Cohn, Kohn (or any version thereof) will be at the Blumkin Home to visit with and entertain the residents.

of-town grandchildren have PJ Library in their home communities. Go to www.pjlibrary.org, and click on “Communities” to find out all the places PJ Library is available.

“I wish PJ Library was around when my kids were little!” says Bloch. “The idea that

each child will receive in the mail each month -- at no cost to their family -- a book with Jewish content is an amazing idea.”

Different books are mailed to different aged children. For instance, in November, participating two-year-olds received How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah? while six year olds received When Mindy Saved Hanukkah. Books are mailed individually in each child’s name so there is no arguing over who gets to open the PJ package. The books come with reading guides to give parents ideas of activities to do with their children around the themes found in the books.

PJ Library is a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. The Center for Jewish Life administers PJ Library in Omaha, and local funding is generously provided by the Dorothy and Myer S. Kripke Institute for Jewish Family Literacy. For more information or to sign up for PJ Library, go to www.jewishomaha.org and click on the Center for Jewish Life tab, or contact Mark at 402.334.6463 or mkirch hoff@jewishomaha.org

Happy Hanukkah

• Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 2:30 p.m., Rabbi Craig Lewis of Lincoln’s Congregation B’nai Jeshurun -- the historic South Street Temple -- will light the fourth candle. On Tuesday evening at 7 p.m., members of Yachad will sing Hanukkah songs in the RBJH lounges.

Kronberg Ensemble • Wednesday, Dec. 12 at 2:30 p.m., representatives of Beth Israel Synagogue -- Rabbi Yaakov Weiss and Josh Gurock -- will light the fifth candle.

• Thursday, Dec. 13 at 2:30 p.m., the sixth candle will be lit by representatives of Chabad.

• Friday, Dec. 14 at 2:30 p.m., a group of Mainstreeters will light the seventh candle and celebrate Hanukkah with music by Anna Mosenkis and Lev Shekhtman.

Saturday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m., Beth El Synagogue members will light the eighth candle and entertain the residents.

“As you see, each candle lighting features different representatives from the Omaha Jewish community,” Schop continued. “This shows our Federation’s continued dedication to Jewish life, which reflects the spirit of Hanukkah.”

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8 | The Jewish Press | November 30, 2012

Hanukkah at Beth El: “Eight Days of Giving Back”

by JILL BELMONT Social Action Shabbat at Beth El on Friday, Dec. 7, during 6 Beth El Publicity Coordinator p.m. Kabbalat Shabbat services, and during 9:30 a.m. servicThis Hanukkah, Beth El is making good on the adage, “It’s es the following day. Both services will focus on the imporbetter to give than to receive,” as the synagogue invites con- tance of social action and the mitzvah of giving back. After gregants to take part in a very special holiday experience, each service, the following congregants will be available in ‘Eight Days of Giving Back.’ During this project, the eight the community court to discuss their special projects with days of Hanukkah will be designated for different causes, offering participants opportunities to donate to or participate in community projects and programs.

And after the holiday is over, volunteers can stay involved with several projects which will continue throughout the year.

The community projects being adopted for this initiative include volunteering for Members of Beth El’s Social Action Committee met recently to brainstorm the synagogue’s upcomHabitat for Humanity, ing ‘Eight Days of Giving Back’ project. In attendance are, seated, Cheryl Lerner, left, Carole hosting a special Lainof, Joan Marcus and Marcy Noodell; standing, Rabbi Steven Abraham, left, Linda Abrams “Hanukkah Memories” Tederman, Margie Gutnik, Jane Dreyfus, Bill Dreyfus, Janie Kulakofsky, Karla Cohen, Sandy evening with residents Canfield, David Cohen, Jay Durmaskin and Larry Kronick. of Remington Heights, sharing a festive Hanukkah those who would like to get involved: Sandy Canfield, Hearts Havdalah with residents of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, United for Animals; Larry Kronick, Sunshine for Seniors; Jay and sorting/packing food at the Omaha Food Bank. In addi- Durmaskin, runs/walks for various causes; Cheryl Lerner, tion, during the entire week, donations will be collected at the Omaha Food Bank; Joan Marcus, Nebraska AIDS the synagogue for the Hearts United for Animals no-kill ani- Project; and Linda Saltzman, the Nebraska Humane Society. mal shelter (paper towels, canned chicken, scoopable cat lit“This is a great opportunity for families with children of ter); the Food Bank (non-perishable food and household all ages to volunteer together,” Karla said. “What a great way items); and the Blumkin Home (new and used magazines). to show our children that ‘It is not what one says, but rather Beth El’s Talmud Torah is also jumping on the giving-back what one does, that makes all the difference in the world’ bandwagon by holding a canned-food drive for the local (Pirkei Avot). Make a Hanukkah memory and share a social Food Bank. Students are being encouraged to help build a action experience. We encourage everyone to take part in Western Wall of canned foods in the office of Eadie Tsabari, this project.”

Director of Congregational Learning, and if the wall is comDavid echoed his wife’s thoughts, adding, “There is somepleted by Dec. 5, they’ll be treated to a movie and ice cream thing for everyone to get involved with -- and that includes social during religious school. moms, dads, and kids! Participating in these activities is not Heading up the ‘Eight Days’ initiative are Karla and David just a lot of fun, but real quality family time, with real world Cohen, co-chairmen of Beth El’s social action committee, lessons. It also provides great examples for kids to follow, as and their committee members Linda Abrams Tederman, they grow and become contributing members of their own Sandy Canfield, Penny Cody-Cox, Jill Belmont, Marcy communities.”

Cotton, Jane and Bill Dreyfus, Jay Durmaskin, Sandee Longtime Beth El congregants, the Cohens and their chilFriedman, Sara Juster, Margie Gutnik, Helen Kay, Janet dren have been actively involved at the synagogue for years, Klein, Larry Kronick, Janie Kulakofsky, Carole Lainof, so taking the reins of the social action sphere was a natural Cheryl Lerner, Joan Marcus, Ruti Margalit, Carol and Ira step for Dave and Karla.

Nathan, Marcy Noodell, Sandy Passer, Linda Saltzman, “The decision to take on the chairmanship of the Social Caryn Scheer, Diane Shandell, Cynthia Shafer-Stern and Action Committee wasn’t a hard decision at all,” Karla said.

John Stern, and Audrey and Richard Wiener.

“There is a special feeling at Beth El that many describe as ‘Eight Days of Giving Back’ will be kicked off with a special ‘home.’ It is a very nurturing and caring environment that

stems from fellow congregants and the Beth El staff. To have the opportunity to be involved in such a positive way in a community that has provided so many wonderful experiences for so many families is exciting.”

Saying he and Karla were honored to be asked to chair this committee, David noted that, “Social action is a very natural and important part of Jewish life, and should be at the heart of every Jewish organization. We’re excited to be joining some great people, as we organize our Beth El community’s efforts to give back, and provide for the greater good.

“We hope to organize our synagogue’s social action efforts to accomplish more as a community than any one person can do alone,” he explained. “The idea is to work together, have fun together, and make a real difference in people’s lives -- our own lives included. If experience is any indication, I expect that all of us involved in these efforts will enrich our own lives at least as much as those we may help -- probably more.”

Getting as many people involved as possible is a priority for the Cohens, and, recognizing that there are many ways to plug in, they are happy to work around volunteers’ time constraints and project priorities.

“We would welcome anyone who wants to be involved in the selection and planning of events, to join the committee,” David said. “There are also many people who would love to be involved in a less structured way, or who may want to get involved with certain causes that are particularly close to their hearts. All are welcome to participate in whatever manner they are comfortable.”

For more information about the social action committee or ‘Eight Days of Giving Back,’ contact the Cohens at userbitz@aol.com, or Beth El Program Director Margie Gutnik in the synagogue office, 402.492.8550, or programming@ bethel-omaha.org. Information may also be found at the synagogue’s website, www.bethel-omaha.org.

Engagement GUTNIK/KAUFMAN Margie and Bruce Gutnik announce the engagement of their daughter Andi Michelle Gutnik to Jason Elliot Kaufman, son of Jeff and Ann Kaufman of Chicago, Illinois and Debbie and Peter Welti of Fairplay, Colorado.

The bride-to-be graduated from Indiana University, Bloomington with a BA in Communications. She serves as the Chicago area Director of Jewish Student Connection.

She is the granddaughter of the late Charles and Evelyn Eisenkramer and the late Sam and Florence Gutnik.

Her fiancé earned his BS in Economics from the University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana. He is a Trust Officer at The Northern Trust in Chicago.

He is the grandson of Dr. B. Paul Justen and the late Lorraine Justen and the late Sam and Jeanette Kaufman A June 2013 wedding in Chicago is planned.

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Eight cookbooks for Hanukkah Amaranth to Quinoa. SweetSpiced Roast Chicken with Barley and Apricots, Tabbouleh and Rozanne Gold’s roasted farro and radish dish.

Home Made Winter By Yvette van Boven ($35) Fabulous graphics! Rustic recipes, art work sketches, charming photographs from this Amsterdam restaurateur. Enjoy all day: from breakfast, brunch and lunch to cakes and sweet things for tea time, main courses and dessert gingerbread anyone?

GINGERBREAD OR PAIN D’EPICE (IT SOUNDS A LOT FANCIER IN FRENCH) 3 1/4 cups self-rising flour A pinch of salt 1 teaspoon each: ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground coriander and a pinch of ground allspice 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 1/4 cup + 3 tbsp. honey 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp. milk Grease a 4-by-8 inch loaf pan with soft butter. Preheat the oven to 300°.

Mix and pour the batter into the pan. Bake the cake 1 hr. until golden. Let it cool on a rack and then wrap it so it’ll stay nice and moist.

Crêpes By Martha Holmberg (Chronicle, $19.95) Award winning author begins with six basic crêpes expanding to twenty-one savory and sweet variations. Included are equipment descriptions, ingredients (spoon flour in the measuring cup), techniques (“whisk like mad”), detailed instructions and beautiful photographs. The Blintzes recipes feature Ricotta with Blueberry Lime Sauce, Lox, Egg and Onion Crêpe Bundles and a horseradish sauce to add “a touch of zing”.

HORSERADISH SAUCE 1/4 cup sour cream 1 tsp. prepared horseradish 1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice 1/4 tsp. kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, horseradish, lemon zest and juice, salt, and a good grind of black pepper. Let the sauce sit at room temperature while you finish the crêpes so the flavors can marry.

My Beverly Hills Kitchen By Alex Hitz (Knopf, $35) Memoirs, 175 recipes, secrets and lush photographs shared by entertaining expert.

Southern cooking and entertaining as the essence of creative self-expression: a hit parade of comfort food with a “wow” factor and lush format. Add this recipe to your next dessert.

BOURBON WHIPPED CREAM 1 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup sugar 2 tbsp. good-quality bourbon (I like Maker’s Mark or Wild Turkey) In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine all the ingredients. Whip on medium speed until the desired texture is achieved -- I like soft peaks for this recipe. Serve over everything!

Read it and eat Reviewed by LOIS FRIEDMAN Spinning dreidels, menorahs with twinkling candles, the stories of the Maccabees and Judith, the miracle of the cruse of oil, the festival of lights. Celebrate with these eight cookbooks, whip up some of the foods that are customary to eat at Hanukkah. Foods fried in oil - fritters, latkes, sufganiyot/ doughnuts and other sweets, cheese, kugel, salty treats and meats, especially brisket. Grab your apron, set a festive table with dreidles and chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil and let the eight nights of Hanukkah begin with these eight cookbooks!

Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts By Mark & Michael Klebek, (Chronicle, $16.95) Filled with the secrets you need to know from the brothers who founded the Seattle doughnut shop, Top Pot (named from a found neon sign), to forge artisan doughnuts, and you don’t even need a deep-frier, how ‘bout that! Lots of colorful photographs.

For the cheesy cookbooks: Mac & Cheese By Ellen Brown (Running Press, $20) Eighty classic and creative versions of the ultimate comfort food many adapted from restaurants around the country. Out-ofhand or by the bowl, with or without crunchy toppings, add ins and even glutenfree. Dilled Salmon, Creamy Leek, and Apple Raisin Noodle Kugel.

The Cheesemonger’s Kitchen By Chester Hastings (Chronicle, $35) Overcome cheese befuddlement and shyness. Celebrate this ultimate dairy product.

Everything you want to know about choosing, eating and cooking with cheese from Appetizers and Cheese Boards to Desserts, 90 sweet and savory recipes with wine notes and handsome photographs, including this fritter recipe to enjoy with a glass of Prosecco as an appetizer.

SAVORY LEMON, RICOTTA, AND PECORINO FRITTERS 2 cups pure olive oil for frying 1 lb. fresh ricotta cheese 4 eggs, beaten 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese 3/4 cup all-purpose/plain flour, plus extra for dredging Zest of 1 lemon 1 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped fine Salt and freshly cracked black pepper Heat the oil to 360° in a deep fryer or heavy sauce-pan. In a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta, eggs, pecorino, flour, lemon zest, and parsley. Stir in a pinch of salt and a few grindings of pepper.

Make balls of the ricotta mixture about the size of golf balls. Dredge the ricotta balls in the extra flour and fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels or paper bags and serve immediately.

Makes 10 to 12 fritters From Stewart, Tabori & Chang: Whole Grains By Liana Krissoff ($24.95) Go for cooking happiness as you discover delicious grains, spices used with abandon, bursting ripe veggies and all you’ll need to know using supermarket-friendly ingredients. Following grain anatomy and taxonomy are alphabetical grain descriptions from

Home Cooking Basics Edited By Southern Living (Oxmoor, $29.95) Everything a southern grandmother would teach you. Lots of how-to photographs in the Set up, Ingredients, Prep and Methods sections. Over 200 recipes and great photographs from the pages of Southern Living magazine. Smoked or Poached Salmon, Brandy Alexander Cheesecake, Matzo Ball Soup and this recipe.

Continued on page 10

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A present is a present

Bert’s eye view BERT LEWIS Oh no! don’t tell me it’s really Hanukkah already. But wait, my Jewish calendar says first candle on Dec. 8, so it must be true. It seems so early this year, but last month I was convinced that Thanksgiving was a week too early. But what do I know? Ok, so it’s really Hanukkah. Let’s talk about it.

If there are children at your house, you don’t need me to tell you what holiday it is.

I’m certain you’ve had plenty of reminders and maybe even some hints regarding gift choices. Yes, I’d bet that more kids are into the gift receiving mode than are sitting around talking about the amazing number of days that little bit of oil burned. But maybe I’m maligning the children who learned all about the holiday early in Sunday School days. Or worse, maybe I’m insulting the teachers who patiently taught them about all of our important holidays. If so, I beg your pardon. It was my experience, however, when my four were greedy little cherubs, the idea of the holiday first flashed PRESENTS! before bible stories... I’m just saying.

Anyway, that brings up the opportunity to compare the Hanukkah of yesterday with Hanukkah 5773. Of course, when I say yesterday, do I refer to the time of my children or way back to my own memories of Hanukkah?

Big difference, I can assure you. Actually, in my childhood, it really wasn’t such a big deal as a holiday. The very first gift I remember receiving was Hanukkah gelt. And it was real gelt, not foil covered chocolate coins. Real money that is... not a big enough sum to cover a really significant purchase, but for a little kid, a lot. And, oh yes, there certainly wasn’t any nonsense about “a present every night of the holiday.” No, that came later, when my own kids were big enough to report that some of their friends scored a big hit for every candle on the hanukkiyah! That alone was enough to incite a small revolution, usually ending with dire parental threats.

Oh yes, it wasn’t all colorful paper chains and construction paper hand drawn pictures of decorations that sometimes resembled holiday celebrations enjoyed by other folks. Come to think of it, I believe it was about that time when the term Hanukkah bush became familiar. We won’t go into that however. It’s not relevant.

Actually, no matter whether talking about

what it was like for me as a child, or for my young children, there were definite similarities that still count. While I hesitate to yet once again bring up food in connection with some religious observance, you can’t deny potato latkes when you talk about Hanukkah. It’s a given!

Who doesn’t look forward to a crisp, freshly fried latke, so hot it burns little fingers (and big ones too). Admit it, they go with Hanukkah... it’s almost a rule! And it was always that way and it still is that way.

Whether my mom put her poor knuckles in jeopardy grating potatoes or whether the latkes I made for my kids were prepared in a food processor, the finished product made an appearance during Hanukkah. Preferably the first night! That remains a constant, no matter what else changes.

And the modest little candle holder that my dad put the orange candles into (they were always orange) may not have been as grand as the fancy hannukkiyah we used when my kids watched me prepare to light the candles, but all was quiet until the last word was said and the last candle burned. Not orange candles, but multicolored fancy tall ones that looked nothing like the old ones. But you know what? The feeling was the same, no matter. It was festive, and regardless of who did the cooking, dinner always seemed a little special, because it was Hanukkah.

As for gifts? All I can tell you is this: a present is a present, whether it’s something fervently wished for but never expected, or conversely, wished for and expected. Often, the latter wasn’t nearly as wonderful as had been anticipated. On the other hand, if one had a big brother who could perform amazing engineering feats with nothing more than an orange crate and a roller skate, well, life was pretty good.

I recall many stories that pertain to my own kids and what gift holidays were like when they were small, but always will I remember what such times were like when my big brother and I were little kids. He always managed to create something to play with, even if he had to dismantle two objects to make one new one. And how I wished I could tease him and demand that he tell me why he needed just one of my roller skates for his homemade scooter.

Some of that was yesterday, and it’s gone except for memories. But the good news is, we’ve still got those potato latkes. And even if I have a hard time remembering NOT to spell it CHANUKAH, and not to call it a menorah, it’s a sweet holiday we enjoy.

Bert Lewis can be reached at BertLewis 39@aol.com.

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Continued from page 9 BRAISED BEEF BRISKET Hands on Time: 15 min.

Total Time: 4 hr., 35 min., plus 1 day for chilling 2 (14.5 oz.) cans low-sodium fat-free beef broth 1 cup low-sodium soy sauce 1/4 cup lemon juice 5 garlic cloves, chopped 1 tbsp. hickory liquid smoke (optional) 1 (7-to-9-lb.) beef brisket 1. Stir together first 4 ingredients and, if desired, liquid smoke in a large roasting pan.

Place brisket in pan, fat side up. Spoon broth mixture and liquid smoke over brisket.

Cover tightly with aluminum foil, and chill 24 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 300°. Bake brisket, covered, 4 to 4 1/2 hours or until fork-tender.

Uncover and let stand 20 minutes.

3. Transfer brisket to a cutting board. Trim fat from brisket. Cut brisket across the grain into thin slices. (Or cut brisket into large pieces, and shred with two forks.) Pour pan drippings through a wire-

mesh strainer, discarding solids. Serve brisket with drippings.

Makes: 16 servings Great Meat Cookbook By Bruce Aidells (HMH, $40) How to make that brisket and every other cut and cuisine. Detailed easy-to-follow instructions, tips, suggestions and Cook’s Notes. A treasure trove of userfriendly meat expertise from this meat expert who serves up a delicious grass fed brisket for a special treat for Hanukkah to be made the day before so “the sauce thickens and the meat absorbs the flavors”.

The Daily Cookie By Anna Ginsberg (Andrews McMeel, $24.99) Organized monthly, this award winning (including the Pillsbury Grand Prize) baker and blogger shares 365 recipes for the “sweetest year of your life” with daily trivia. Rugelach, Mandel Bread, Pareve Brownies, Matzo Brittle, Hamantaschen and 360 more yummy cookie treats with a picture of each. Enjoy the holiday!!

Lois Friedman can be reached at ReadItAndEat@yahoo.com.

November 30, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 11

Old and new traditions

by DAVID GOLBITZ Temple Israel Staff Writer When Jill Archer was a child, Christmas was exactly the sort of big deal one would expect from a Midwestern Christian upbringing, with a household full of Christmas cookies and decorations, and children fervently crafting their wish lists for Santa Claus.

“My siblings and I would spend countless nights revising our wish lists while fighting over the pages of the beloved Sears and Roebuck Toy Catalog,” Jill said. “And the decorations in our home would [have] put Martha Stewart out of business.”

But when Jill was older, she met, fell in love with, and married a Jewish man named George Idelman, and her “life changed dramatically.”

When they had been married for about six years, and their five-year-old son Justin was about to start kindergarten, Jill and George made the decision to join Temple Israel.

“It was time to raise our son with Jewish values,” she said.

Karli Newman was also raised in a Christian family, one for whom the holidays were more about Santa than Jesus.

She didn’t attend church services with any regularity and Christmas was a time for the family to spend together.

“My favorite memories of the season revolved around sharing the stories of each ornament as it was hung on the tree, the anticipation of Santa’s arrival and the excitement each Christmas morning when the gifts were there under the tree,” Karli said.

Like Jill Idelman, Karli also married a Jewish man, Jody Newman, but having grown up in a secular household and having no deeply felt ties to Christianity, embracing her husband’s Jewish heritage was an easy choice, though she did not want to fully abandon the holiday memories of her youth.

“My husband’s childhood memories of Hanukkah were centered around being with family and the great food his mother made during the holiday,” Karli said. “He and I decided early on that we would incorporate [traditions from both families] into our own family celebrations. We told [our children] that Santa loves all children and will visit the homes of children who believe in him no matter their religion.”

Each year, the Newmans put up a Christmas tree, and they also light the menorah on each night of Hanukkah. And, of course, “latkes and noodle kugel are a must-have.”

As Jill Idelman learned more and more about the community she was joining, as she fully embraced her burgeoning Judaism, the Jewish community returned her embrace wholeheartedly.

“The Outreach Organization at Temple Israel welcomed our family with open arms,” Jill said. “I became very active in its programming and even served as Outreach Committee CoChair for a few years. Each November we held a special program called ‘December Dilemma.’ That program helped me understand that it was okay to ‘mourn’ missing Christmas.”

In fact, Jill struggled early on with society as her new Jewish identity was still in its formative stages, and the A Fantastic shopping event.

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December Dilemma program helped her realize that her Jewishness wasn’t under attack every time she heard Christmas music on the radio.

“I learned to accept the fact that if I wanted to listen to a Christmas song or be appreciative of an excited holiday shopper that would say ‘Merry Christmas,’ I could respond comfortably with ‘Same to you,’ and not feel my Jewish Identity was at stake,” Jill said. “I eventually became okay with the fact that my children’s public school was challenged with recognizing that there were Jewish students in Omaha that didn’t understand what Away in the Manger really meant. I was protective of my early Jewish identity, but learned that it could not be taken away from me by a once-a-year holiday that did bring up past reminders of my childhood.”

Karli Newman has never really felt uncomfortable with her family’s decisions about how to celebrate the winter holidays, something she attributes to neither she nor her husband being raised with “a strict religious upbringing.”

When their children, Bailey, Spencer and Zoey, were younger, Karli and Jody explained to them the differences between Christmas and Hanukkah, and the importance placed upon the holidays by their respective religions, and they read Hanukkah stories. But as the kids have gotten older, the focus has shifted.

“Family, family, family,” Karli said. “To us, it is about creating warm memories for our kids and sharing time together.”

Karli also believes, due in no small part to her own experiences, that no matter how a family decides to celebrate the holidays, stick with it and don’t let anyone tell you your way isn’t “the right way.”

“What works for you may not work for anyone else and there is nothing wrong with that,” Karli said. “It really alleviates any stress you may be feeling.”

Despite it being “the best decision [she] ever made,” some members of Jill Idelman’s family didn’t fully understand or accept their daughter and sister’s decision to embrace Judaism, which caused a fair amount of tsuris at first.

“They still struggle with the fact that I am not part of their Christmas tradition,” Jill said. “I am sure they had their own type of mourning at that first Christmas I was not part of the celebration.”

However, Jill points out, that same family “proudly celebrated the B’nai Mitzvah of my sons at Temple Israel.”

Whatever differences may have arisen because of Jill’s conversion to Judaism, her parents still stood on the bima as she read from the Torah on her sons’ special days.

“We have come a long way from Christmas stockings and the Sears and Roebuck Toy Catalog,” Jill said. “Was it easy?

Not necessarily. But we all have been blessed with moments of celebration that keep us true to our old and new traditions.”

The December Dilemma program that helped Jill Idelman acknowledge her Christian past without feeling that her Jewish identity was being threatened no longer exists at Temple Israel, but the clergy, in conjunction with members

of the congregation, are working on new interfaith programming for the coming year that they hope will benefit the entire community.

“We have an incredibly strong group of interfaith families at Temple Israel who are committed to living Jewishly,” Rabbi Josh Brown said. “And my past experience has shown that engagement by interfaith families increases participation by the whole community.”

Rabbi Brown is aware that interfaith families don’t always feel comfortable in the Jewish community and he hopes the upcoming programs will alleviate that discomfort.

“One of the biggest challenges in interfaith families is, they’re not always comfortable in the Jewish community and we want to remedy that,” he said. “We want to make sure every member of our community, and their families, feels welcome at Temple, to feel that Temple Israel is their home just as much as anybody else, because it is.”

One last study session

by PATRICIA NEWMAN Executive Director, Beth Israel Shmuel Aaron Shyken and Rabbi Yitzchak Mizrahi studied one last time together last week. Rabbi Mizrahi and his family left Beth Israel and have moved to New Zealand where Rabbi Mizrahi has taken a pulpit in Wellington. He invites those interested to share his weekly email/blog where he will discuss the Torah portion and provide updates on Mizrahi family activities and whereabouts! To be included in his weekly email/blog, contact him at yitzchakm@hotmail.com

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Happy Hanukkah

From Our Family to Yours

12 | The Jewish Press | November 30, 2012

New children’s books: high seas adventures, food and fun

by PENNY SCHWARTZ BOSTON (JTA) -- An imaginative historical tale of adventure set on the high seas will captivate young readers this Hanukkah season.

Emanuel and the Hanukkah Rescue is one of a few new children’s books for the eight day Festival of Lights, which begins this year on the evening of Dec. 8.

Meanwhile, two funfilled books aim to get food-loving kids of all ages into the kitchen with tantalizing menus while offering other fun holiday activities.

Emanuel and the Hanukkah Rescue, by Heidi Smith Hyde, illustrated by Jamet Akib Kar-Ben ($17.95 hardcover; $7.95 paperback; $13.95 ebook); ages 5-9.

From the opening pages of Emanuel and the Hanukkah Rescue, young readers will know they’re in for something out of the ordinary. Set in the 18th century whaling port of New Bedford, Mass., the fictionalized historical tale by Heidi Smith Hyde tells the story of a spirited nine-year-old Jewish boy named Emanuel Aguilar whose father is a merchant who sells sailing supplies and other provisions to the city’s whalers.

“Papa, when will I be old enough to go to sea?” Emanuel asks his father, who cautions his son against the dangers of whaling.

Emanuel yearns to place the family menorah in the window during Hanukkah, but his father is fearful, recalling the tragedy of the Inquisition in his home country of Portugal, where Jews were not free to practice their faith.

“This isn’t Portugal, Papa. This is America!” Emanuel protests, reminding his father that Hanukkah celebrates religious freedom.

On the last day of Hanukkah, Emanuel stows away aboard a whaling ship, leaving a note for his papa explaining his hope to be free. But a sudden and vicious storm transforms the fun adventure, as Emanuel learns firsthand the dangers

of the sea. By story’s end, the reunited father and son find hope and courage in the light of Hanukkah and its power to inspire freedom.

Artist Jamel Akib’s richly colored pastel paintings cast a luminous glow across the landscape. His highly detailed, realistic illustrations put readers into the story, from the

interiors of the merchant shop and the family home to the dramatic scenes at sea. One double page spread depicts the busy working waterfront where angular, strong whalers unload crates and barrels from ships.

Hyde was inspired to create the story after reading an article about Jewish involvement in New Bedford’s whaling industry. Jews were an integral part of the industry in New England coastal areas, she learned, serving as merchants, candle exporters and even ship owners. Some Jews in the region practiced their faith in secret.

Hyde says she was struck by the parallels with Hanukkah, with its themes of the miracle of the oil and religious freedom. In “Emanuel,” she wanted to explore what it means to hide one’s identity.

“Mostly, I want kids to realize that it’s important to be themselves, not to be afraid of who they are,” she told JTA. Hanukkah Sweets and Treats, by Ronne Randall, Windmill Books This colorful book offers step-by-step instructions for six holiday recipes including Luscious Latkes, Easy Applesauce, Fudgy Gelt and a Cupcake Menorah. The large print format

with lots of photographs and graphics opens with a twopage spread, “Before You Begin Cooking,” with lists of what you will need as well as safety precautions and even a section on how to use measuring spoons.

Boxed sidebars offer little-known facts on the history of apples, a note on the nutrition of potatoes (must be before they’re fried in oil) and this astonishing statistic: The largest bakery in Israel produces up to 250,000 sufganiyot -- Israeli-style filled doughnuts -- on each of the eight days of Hanukkah. A simple glossary defines words including dough, Maccabees, vitamin and Yiddish.

Maccabee Meals, Food and Fun for Hanukkah, by Judye Groner and Madeline Wikler, illustrated by Ursula Roma Kar-Ben ($8.95 paperback; $6.95 ebook); ages 7-12.

Authors Judye Groner and Madeline Wikler know a thing or two about kids and fun for the Jewish holidays. The pair have co-written more than two dozen books, including their first, My Very Own Haggadah, that has sold more than 2 million copies.

Maccabee Meals features large, easy-to-read print, lots of lively illustrations and a selection of enticing, unique recipes such as Waffle Latkes with yogurt, or a tea sandwich in the design of a menorah. Interspersed with the recipes and drawings are short stories and other Hanukkah facts. One box tells readers that Hanukkah and Christmas coincide once every 38 years.

Who knew? All recipes are marked with a dreidel symbol indicating whether they are dairy, meat or parve -- and with a dreidel score ranging from no cooking ease to the harder use of hot stove with an adult. Instructions for crafts, playing dreidel, and candle blessings complete the book. Parents will most appreciate the page on party etiquette and this one-liner: “Remember, good cooks always leave the kitchen neat and clean.”

The Star Deli wishes you a Happy Hanukkah

Come and get it!

November 30, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 13

Point of view Is Israel’s response ‘disproportionate’? A history lesson

Focus on issues RAFAEL MEDOFF The fact that the casualty toll from the first days of the Gaza fighting was three Israelis and 30 Arabs “underscores what critics of Israeli policy called Israel’s disproportionate use of military force,” the New York Times reported on Nov. 17.

If the body count determines whether an army’s actions are justified, then the historical record contains more than a few surprises.

In early 1916, Pancho Villa’s revolutionaries murdered 16 Americans in northern Mexico, and then 18 more in a crossborder raid into New Mexico. President Woodrow Wilson responded by sending American troops, led by MajorGeneral John Pershing, after Villa. In a series of battles between March and June, the Americans lost 15 men, while Villa's forces suffered about 200 dead.

Did anybody accuse Pershing of using too much force?

Fast forward 25 years. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, left 2,330 Americans dead. The United States responded not with a raid of similar size, but a full-scale war against the Japanese throughout the Pacific, culminating in the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese mainland. By the time the war was over, Japan had lost an estimated one million soldiers and two million civilians, including the approximately 200,000 civilians killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Was America’s response disproportionate?

President Harry Truman didn’t think so. Here’s what he said about using a nuclear weapon: “We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have aban-

doned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare.

We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans.”

The German blitzkrieg rained terror on London and other British cities every night for eight straight months from September 1940 to May 1941. About 40,000 British civilians were killed in those German bombings.

But in just three nights, the Allied bombing of the German city of Dresden claimed an estimated 20,000 lives. Other Allied bombings of Germany brought the civilian death toll there to far more than what the British had suffered.

The chief marshal of the British air force, Arthur Harris, had this to say about Dresden: “Attacks on cities like any other act of war are intolerable unless they are strategically justified. But they are strategically justified in so far as they tend to shorten the war and preserve the lives of Allied soldiers. To my mind we have absolutely no right to give them up unless it is certain that they will not have this effect. I do not personally regard the whole of the remaining cities of Germany as worth the bones of one British Grenadier.”

Altogether, an estimated 3.2 million German soldiers, and 3.6-million German civilians, died in the war. Compare that to American and British losses. The U.S. suffered 362,561 military deaths in World War II. The British lost 264,433 soldiers, 30,248 merchant navymen, and 60,595 civilians, for a total of 355,276.

By the standards of today’s Mideast pundits, would that mean the Allies’ military actions were disproportionate?

More recent conflicts raise similar questions.

The Korean War, for example. Casualty figures are impossible to determine precisely, but there is no doubt that the North Koreans and their Chinese allies suffered many more losses than the U.S. and South Korea.

The U.S. lost 36,576 soldiers; the South Koreans, over

100,000 soldiers and some 300,000 civilians. By contrast, North Korean military losses were probably around 400,000, and Chinese fatalities were probably in the vicinity of 500,000. Together with North Korean civilian deaths, the casualty total on their side was well over one million. Does that indicate the Americans used disproportionate force?

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. The U.S. and its allies came to Kuwait’s defense. About 25,000 Iraqi soldiers, and more than 3,000 Iraqi civilians, were killed. The U.S. suffered 294 losses; the other members of its coalition lost a combined total of 188. Did the Americans overdo it?

Consider Afghanistan. About 3,000 Americans were killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The U.S. and its allies responded by attacking Al Qaeda and its Taliban supporters in Afghanistan. As of this writing, more than 2,000 American soldiers, and more than 1,000 other allied soldiers, have died in Afghanistan, as well as some 10,000 Afghan soldiers. Estimates for Al Qaeda and Taliban casualty totals vary, but they certainly number in the tens of thousands—far more than the Americans and their allies. Should we conclude that the Bush and Obama administrations have used disproportionate force in Afghanistan?

Israel does not claim its army is perfect. It knows that when fighting a war in which terrorists station themselves in civilian neighborhoods, some civilians will be harmed. And the Israelis regret that. They simply want to be judged by the same standard that the international community has used in judging other conflicts in which the aggressors end up suffering more casualties than their intended victims.

Dr. Rafael Medoff is director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, and coauthor, with Prof.

Sonja Schoepf Wentling, of the new book “Herbert Hoover and the Jews: The Origins of the ‘Jewish Vote’ and Bipartisan Support for Israel.”

as our prayers remind us, Hanukkah celebrates a Jewish victory of the weak and the few over the strong and the many.

The spirit of Hanukkah comes to life more in a country where you have to fight for it, where you have to insist on its legitimate place on the cultural spectrum. When you put your hanukiyah (menorah) on your window sill in the diaspora, you feel that you are making an important religious statement, that you are doing something to spread the Hanukkah spirit. The six or seven hanukiyot that we light on our window sill in Givat Ze’ev look nice, but we don’t quite sense that we have just done an act worthy of the Maccabees.

This is not to say that life here in the Jewish state is without drama. A number of our Arab neighbors help make life in Israel exciting in a Maccabean way all throughout the year. But the Jewish state rather than the Jewish individual is the primary setting for this drama. And the stakes are much much higher than whether or not to get offended if someone wishes you a Merry Christmas. For my part, I wish you all a Happy Hanukkah.

PS: About our well-being at this time: For Israel’s population north of Ashdod, life is going on pretty much as usual.

Two rockets were fired at Tel Aviv yesterday. Sarah was at work for the first one and she and her colleagues went into the

stairwell for a few minutes. For the second one, she was on her way home. The shuttle van pulled over and Sarah and the other passengers exited to a spot that they felt was relatively safe; Sarah heard the “boom” as the rocket was intercepted, and then everyone went back into the van. But it’s important for us in the center of the country not to make too much of “our” rocket fire, I think. Compare Tel Aviv’s two incidents recently with Ashdod’s 35, Ashkelon’s 22, and Sderot’s 20 and you can see that for Israel’s southern population life is much more difficult. My son Ezra’s position in the army is a noncombat one, much to his chagrin -- especially at this time. My oldest, Nathan, was given a heads-up that he may be called to do reserves with his unit in the air force. He is non-combat too. In the spirit of “life goes on,” I send you the following link: http://www.safsal.co.il/article.aspx?id= 20387. The Israel Basketball Association’s website has just started a weekly women’s player profile. They picked Rebecca for their first profile.

Teddy Weinberger made aliyah in 1997 with his wife, former Omahan Sarah Ross, and their five children. Their oldest three, Nathan, Rebecca and Ruthie, are veterans of the Israel Defense Forces; Weinberger can be reached at weinross@net vision.net.il.

Hanukkah in Israel

Journal entry from Israel TEDDY WEINBERGER After fifteen Hanukkahs here, one thing about the way the Festival of Lights is celebrated in Israel never ceases to amaze me: the total absence of Christmas. In the States, Hanukkah’s relation to Christmas is of crucial concern. The more the two holidays overlap, the more that Jews will be celebrating their winter holiday at the same time that the majority of Americans are celebrating theirs. In Israel, Christmas is simply not on the radar screen for most Israelis, and so Hanukkah goes it alone.

Since I grew up in the States and only moved here at the age of 36, I cannot help but think of Hanukkah in relation to Christmas. And so I know that this year Hanukkah is relatively “early” (beginning on Saturday night Dec. 8)--and I also know what this means in America. An early Hanukkah is disconcerting to many American Jews. It’s sort of like a secret Marano holiday: the Jews are celebrating in their homes while the outside world is filled with anticipation of Christmas. You are wished “Merry Christmas” all throughout your holiday--though December 25th is several weeks away. There are print and broadcast media pieces on Hanukkah, and schools and offices sprout paper menorahs, but these cannot put a dent in the general feeling of Christmas that pervades the outside world.

As is the case every year, Hanukkah in Israel is always on time. It is never early or late. And while Israeli life is geared toward the Gregorian calendar (so that, unlike Christmas, even knowledgeable Israelis have to do some figuring in order to calculate the first night of Hanukkah), one can guage the date of Hanukkah by the availability and variety of sufganiyot (donuts). Sufganiyot start making their appearance in October, shortly after the conclusion of Judaism’s Fall holidays. As Hanukkah nears, donut makers get more ambitious both in terms of quantity and quality-augmenting the traditional strawberry jelly filling with butterscotch, chocolate, halva, and even guava and passion fruit, as well as experimenting with more sophisticated donut coatings (like carob powder or ground brown sugar) rather than the usual powdered sugar.

I have to admit that left to its lonesome, there’s some drama missing in a Hanukkah without Christmas. After all,

Poll shows gap between Republicans and Democrats in backing Israel in Gaza

by JTA NEWS STAFF WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A CNN poll showed a considerable gap between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to backing Israel in the current Gaza conflict.

In the CNN poll published Monday, respondents were asked whether “Israel was justified or unjustified in taking military action against Hamas and the Palestinians in the area known as Gaza.”

Among Democrats, 40 percent said Israel was “justified,” compared to 74 percent of Republicans and 59 percent of independents.

In all, 57 percent of those polled said Israel was justified in launching the operation in the Gaza Strip.The poll, carried out by ORC International in 1,023 phone interviews from Nov. 16-18, has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Israel launched air and naval attacks on Gaza on Nov. 14 after an intensfication of rocket fire from Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas.

Meanwhile in a Gallup poll, Americans cited keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon among the top three priorities of President Obama’s second term.

Gallup asked respondents to rank 12 issues as “extremely,” “very,” “somewhat,” “not too,” and “not at all” important.

The top three ranked were taking “major steps to restore a strong economy and job market,” with 95 percent of respondents ranking it as “extremely” or “very” important; taking “major steps to ensure the long-term stability of Social Security and Medicare,” ranked “extremely” or “very” important by 88 percent of respondents; and preventing “Iran from developing a nuclear weapon,” cited by 79 percent of respondents as “extremely” or “very” important.

The rankings broke the same when respondents were identified as Democrats, Republicans and Independent, although the numbers were slightly different.

Gallup polled 1,009 adults by phone Nov. 9-12. The results have a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

14 | The Jewish Press | November 30, 2012

Synagogues B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE 618 Mynster Street | Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 | 402.322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com For information on our historic synagogue – dates and times for Friday night services, please call 712.323.8885.

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California | Omaha, NE 68154-1980 | 402.492.8550 www.bethel-omaha.org Services conducted by Rabbi Mordechai Levin, Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat Service, 6 p.m.; Dinner & Drash, 7 p.m., following Shabbat services. Cost: $12.50 per person. RSVP online at www.bethel-omaha.org, or by contacting the office, or programming@bethel-omaha.org.

SATURDAY: Morning Services, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 10 a.m.; Mincha-Ma’ariv, 5 p.m.

Sitter Service is available during Friday night and Saturday morning services, on a drop-in basis, no charge.

WEEKDAY SERVICES: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; weekdays, 7 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.

SUNDAY: Torah Study Group, 10 a.m.; BESTT B’nai Mitzvah Parents’ Meeting, 9:45 a.m.; Highly Controversial Laws of Torah, 10 a.m. led by Andy Greenberg; BESTT Torah Tots, 10:30 a.m., for preschoolers and their parents, led by Naomi Gaca; Kibbutz Chaverim, 12:15 p.m.–3:30 p.m., youth group members will share lunch at the synagogue, and then spend the afternoon playing Laser Tag at Skatedaze. Pick-up is at 3:30 p.m. at the synagogue. Cost to attend, $10. RSVP to Eadie Tsabari at 402.498.0904, or etsabari@bethel-omaha.org.

MONDAY: Wrestling with Rabbis of the Talmud, 10 a.m. with Rabbi Abraham; Tai Chi Class class 6 p.m., taught by certified Tai Chi instructor Beth Staenberg and continues on Dec. 10. For more information, contact Margie in the office.

TUESDAY: Clergy visits Remington Heights, 1 p.m. Beth El clergy will present a Hanukkah program for Remington residents; Back 2 Basics Adult-Ed class, 7 p.m. led by Rabbi Abraham. No charge to attend.

WEDNESDAY: Women’s Book Club, 7:30 p.m., at the synagogue. We’ll discuss The Frozen Rabbi, by Steve Stern.

Social Action Shabbat, Friday, Dec. 7, 6 p.m., during Kabbalat services, and Saturday, Dec. 8, 9:30 a.m., during morning services. After each service, volunteers participating in the synagogue’s social action projects will be available in the community court to talk with anyone interested in getting involved.

Shabbat’s Cool Hanukkah Happening & Lunch, Saturday, Dec. 8, 10 a.m., for all BESTT students.

Hebrew Crash Course, Sundays, Dec. 9 and Dec. 16 at 11 a.m. with Susi Frydman-Levin.

Eight Days of Giving Back, Beth El congregants of all ages are invited to participate in a variety of community service projects and activities, during the eight days of Hanukkah.

For more information, visit www.bethel-omaha.org, or contact Karla and David Cohen at userbitz@aol.com.

All classes and programs are open to everyone in the Jewish community.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Free babysitting service begins at 9:30 a.m.; Children’s Classes begin with Torah Parade, 9:45 a.m.; Kiddush is sponsored iby Sisterhood; The Laws of Shabbat, 2:30 p.m.; Advanced Parshah Study for Boys (ages 10 and up), 3:30 p.m.; Rabbi Gross’s Twitter Topic class, 3:30 p.m.; Mincha, 4:30 p.m., followed by Seuda Shlishit; Havdalah, 5:42 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m. followed by breakfast; Hanukkah Children’s Activity, 10:15 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Rabbi Weiss’s Weekly Class, 7:45 p.m.

THURSDAY: Sacred Grounds, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Gross; Scholars Club for fourth-sixth graders, 3:30 p.m. with Rabbi Gross.

CHABAD CENTER An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 South 120 Street | Omaha, NE 68144-1646 | 402.330.1800 www.OChabad.com | email: chabad@aol.com Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: Minyan and Meditation, 7 a.m.

SATURDAY: Minyan and Meditation, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush luncheon follows the service. The power of prayer.

SUNDAY: Minyan, 8:30 a.m.; Breakfast Bonanza, 9:30 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Minyan and Meditation, 7 a.m.

TUESDAY: Minyan and Meditation, 7 a.m.; Dynamic Discovery with Shani Katzman, 10:15 a.m. A class for women based on traditional texts with practical insights and application. Please reserve by calling 402.330.1800.

WEDNESDAY: Minyan and Meditation, 7 a.m.; Women’s Parsha class, 10 a.m. with Rochi Katzman.

Don’t miss out on the exciting things planned for Hanukkah.

“The miracle of you” Women’s Hanukkah party, Wednesday, Dec. 12 and Annual Menorah parade, Thursday, Dec. 13.

All programs are open to the entire community.

CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN South Street Temple | Union for Reform Judaism 2061 South 20th Street | Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 | 402.435.8004 www.southstreettemple.org Services conducted by Rabbi Craig Lewis.

FRIDAY: Tot Shabbat with Ms. Jennifer, 6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel; Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m. with participation

by Sarah Zlotsky Hoagland and oneg following hosted by Amy Zlotsky.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 10 a.m. celebrating the Bat Mitzvah of Sarah Zlotsky Hoagland, with luncheon folloing.

SUNDAY: LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; Hallah High, 9:45 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; LJCS Board, 10:30 a.m. at Tifereth Israel.

WEDNESDAY: Hebrew classes (grades 3-7), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.

ADULT EDUCATION TUESDAY, 6:30 p.m. Intro to Judaism led by Rabbi Lewis.

THURSDAYS, Beginning Hebrew, 6 p.m.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific Street | Omaha, NE. 68154 | 402.556.6288 www.BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org Office Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fri., 8:30 a.m-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Jonathan Gross.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 4:38 p.m.

Bar Mitzvah Jack Elias Fletcher, son of Hillary and John Fletcher, will become a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, Dec. 8, at Temple Israel.

Jack is a seventh-grade student at Westside Middle School.

His interests include baseball, friends, family and his cat, RBI. For his mitzvah project, Jack was a teachers assistant for the month of June at Jackson Elementary School’s summer program. He worked with ESL students on their English and assisted with field trips. He enjoyed the experience so much that he hopes to return next summer.

He has a sister, Baye. and a brother, Zane.

Grandmother is Sharon Pirozzi of Albuquerque, NM. Great-grandmother is Dorothy Lacey of Dover, NH.

SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway | Offutt AFB, NE 68113 | 402.294.6244 FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.

Candlelighting Friday, November 30, 4:38 p.m.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME 323 South 132 Street | Omaha, NE 68154 FRIDAY: Shabbat Comes to the Blumkin Home, 2:30 p.m. led by Temple Israel Members.

SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Andy Greenberg.

Services will be held in the Chapel. Members of the community are invited to attend.

TEMPLE ISRAEL Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 7023 Cass Street | Omaha, NE 68132-2651 | 402.556.6536 www.templeisrael-ne.org FRIDAY: Shabbat Comes to you at Rose Blumkin Home, 2:30 p.m. led by Rabbi Brown; Shabbat Service Sermon in Song, 6 p.m. led by Rabbi Brown and Cantor Shermet. In honor of the influential composer Bonia Shur, who recently passed away, Cantor Shermet’s Sermon in Song will feature select pieces of his music and commentary from the cantor on Shur’s life and influence.

SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. Ellie Simon, daughter of Stacy and Bruce Simon, will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah.

Sitter Service is available Wednesday evenings during Family School hours so that parents can take advantage of adult education opportunities, Friday evenings except when there is a Tot Shabbat, Saturday mornings when there is a Bar or Bat mitzvah, and Sunday mornings when there is Religious School. Advance reservations and a $5 donation are appreciated. Young children, including infants, are welcome.

SUNDAY: Teachers Meeting, 9:30 a.m.; Grades PreK-6, 10 a.m.; Grade Four Family Day, 10 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Grades 3-6, 4 p.m.; School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Family School, 6 p.m.; Grades 7-8, 6 p.m.; Temple Teen Night, 6 p.m.; Prayer, Justice, Outreach as a Reform Jews, 6:30 p.m. with Rabbi Brown.

THURSDAY: The History of Judaism in Greece, 10 a.m. with Cantor Shermet.

First Friday Shabbat Service, Friday, Dec. 7, 6 p.m. led by Rabbi Azriel and Cantor Shermet along with Grade Four.

Tot Shabbat, Friday, Dec. 7, 6 p.m. led by Rabbi Brown.

Hanukkah Dinner, Friday, Dec. 7, 7 p.m. Please contact the Temple Israel office, 402.556.6536, to make a reservation. No cost for the dinner. Reservations are required.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Boulevard | Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 | 402.423.8569 www.tiferethisraellincoln.org Services conducted by lay leader Nancy Coren. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

FRIDAY: Tot Shabbat with Ms. Jennifer, 6 p.m.; Services, 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Morning service, 10 a.m. followed by Kiddush lunch.

SUNDAY: LJCS Gan through Grade 7, 9:30 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; Hallah High, 9:45 a.m.-noon at Tifereth Israel; LJCS Board, 10:30 a.m. at Tifereth Israel; Jewish Book Club, 11:30 a.m. at Marcha Kushner’s home. The club will discuss The Invisible Bridge. Please RSVP to Marcia via phone or email; Tifereth Israel Board Meeting, 2 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Hebrew classes (grades 3-7), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.

Annual Hanukkah Party, Dec. 9, 12:15 p.m. Cost is $8 for adults and $5 for children under ten.

Ehud Barak says he’s quitting politics

by JTA NEWS STAFF JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he is leaving politics after more than half a century and will not run in the upcoming elections.

Barak made the surprise announcement Monday, less than a week after Israel’s military ended its Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, for which he has received accolades for his successful leadership.

He said he would leave the government after the January elections. Barak, of the Independence Party, has been courted recently by left-wing and center-left parties to join with them for the elections. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly demanded that Barak resign from the government if he decided to join another party.

Barak said he planned to spend more time with his family.

"I have never felt that politics was the height of my ambition," he said at the Monday morning news conference. “I feel there is room now for other people to take up positions

in Israel. There are many ways to contribute, but the state is not just politics.”

Barak served as prime minister in 1999, succeeding Benjamin Netanyahu, and simultaneously as defense minister. He left politics in 2001 after losing to Ariel Sharon, but returned in 2007 to serve as chairman of the Labor Party and defense minister for Ehud Olmert, and stayed on when Netanyahu became prime minister in 2009.

Barak left the Labor Party in January 2011 and formed the left-wing Independence Party to shore up Netanyahu’s majority coalition government when Labor, minus Barak’s faction, left the coalition. The Independence Party likely would not garner enough votes in the upcoming elections to break the 2 percent threshold to win seats in the Knesset, according to recent polls.

Former Kadima Party head Tzipi Livni is slated to announce this week her plans for the coming political season, as is former prime minister and Kadima chief Ehud Olmert.

Pulverente MONUMENT CO.

November 30, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 15

Is war ever justified?

Sparks from the word RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Hanukkah A good commander-in-chief must weigh the chances of success against the possibility of failure before undertaking a campaign.

Recent historical studies have castigated Bar Kokhba (or whatever his real name was), who undertook a fateful rebellion of the Jewish people against Rome in the 2nd century.

The disaster effectively shut the Jews out of Palestine, in terms of normal living and normal spiritual growth, and left the Jews of Palestine decimated, impoverished, and spiritually on the decline.

No one has really yet tried to do this with the Maccabees, whose rebellion in the 2nd century BCE led to the re-dedication (Hanukkah) of the Temple and thus to the festival of Hanukkah.

On the contrary, we still rather proudly point out that this was the first time in human history that a people put their life on the line in defense of their right to their own religion, its ways, its rights, and its beliefs.

The good commander-in-chief with whom we began would probably have scrapped plans both for the Maccabean rebellion and for the Bar Kokhba action. He would have been right about Bar Kokhba and wrong -- oh so wrong! -- about the Maccabees. The chances of winning

were very small in both cases.

Judas Maccabeus and his brothers fought a harrying guerilla war against trained and disciplined forces that far outnumbered the Jewish ragtag army. Bar Kokhba challenged the power of Rome, before which all the world had crumbled and fallen. Neither had a prayer.

But a prayer, literally, they did have. And though Bar Kokhba failed, leading to massacre, exile, famine, and general destruction, in their day, the Maccabees won.

They won the right to practice Judaism. They cleansed the Temple and purified it of Greek paraphernalia. They reinstituted the priestly worship. They saved Judaism from disappearance.

What might have been the shape, religiously speaking, of the centuries that followed, had the infantile Greek religions and their philandering gods become standard in Palestine?

After the fact we can easily conclude that this war was justified. Had we been there before the fighting began, would we have said it was right to risk the lives of the population in a war that seemed to have no chance of succeeding? It is much easier to read history than to plan history.

And how quickly the good accomplished by the Maccabees faded away! Almost exactly a century later, two Maccabean brothers, vying with each other for the throne, called the Romans to decide between them. Romans are Romans. Pompey decided in favor of... Pompey. And the rule of Rome begins.

In the meantime, before we have to consider what Roman power meant, enjoy Hanukah! Light its lights and eat its latkes and exult in the Hallel psalms. We don’t get many chances like this.

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In memoriam DR. MORTON H. KULESH Dr. Morton H. Kulesh passed away Nov. 21 in Scottsdale, AZ. Private family services were held Nov. 23.

He is survived by his wife, Kaye, of 57 years; his children, Kathryn and William Kulesh; daughter-in-law, Carrie Kulesh; grandchildren: David, Jillian and Kimberly Kulesh.

He was born on April 4, 1923 in Omaha to Herman N. Kulesh and Rose Kulesh. Morton attended the University of Iowa for both his undergraduate and graduate education.

He completed his undergraduate studies in 1943 then continued on to graduate with honors from medical school in 1945. Aside from practicing pathology for more than 50 years, he also served as an associate professor of pathology at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine for more than 32 years. He was active on numerous medical boards and committees including the American Red Cross Blood Banking Center and the College of American Pathologists.

Memorials may be made to the National Parkinson Foundation or the American Red Cross.

MARLON SOMBERG Marlon Somberg, of Scottsdale, AZ passed away at home on Nov. 21 at age 80. Services were held Nov. 22 in Scottsdale, AZ. He is survived by his wife Marjorie, of 58 years; daughters and sons-in-law, Linda and Ralph Spaulding, Jane and John Lawless, and Beth and Rob Marsh; grandchildren: Melanie, Jacob, T.J., Emily, Stephanie, Kaylie, and Danny; brother and sister-in-law, Ray and Susie Somberg.

He was born July 30, 1932 in Omaha to Rosaline and Louis Somberg. Marlon married his childhood sweetheart, Marjorie Shapiro, in 1954. A University of Colorado at Boulder graduate, he served two years in the U.S. Air Force and then joined Natelsons, the family’s women’s clothing business. He retired to Scottsdale, AZ in 1993, where he volunteered his time helping those in need in the community.

Memorials may be made to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, PO Box 4527, New York, NY, 10163 or to Pancreatic Cancer Research at TGEN, 400 E. Van Buren St., Phoenix, AZ, 85004.

and sisters-in-law, Michael and Lisa, Andrew and Christine and Steven and Tessa; nieces and nephews: Hannah, Talya, Emma, Lacie, Leighton, Max and David; Aunt and Uncle Ruth and Merle Potash; and, beloved dog Mu Shu. She was a speech pathologist in the Chicago area. She graduated from Westside High School 1975; University of Missouri 1979; and Northwestern University.

Memorials may be made to Beth El Synagogue or Nebraska Humane Society in Omaha or Temple Beth Israel, Skokie, Illinois.

BLAKE WOLFSON Blake Wolfson of Scottsdale, AZ, passed away Nov. 17 at age 19 after a courageous battle with brain cancer. Services were held Nov. 19 at Mount Sinai Cemetery in Phoenix.

He was preceded in death by his grandfather, Ben Nachman.

He is survived by his mother and stepfather, Carole (Nachman) and David Aronchick; brother, Evan Wolfson; grandmother, Elaine Nachman; many cousins, aunts and uncles. Blake will live on forever in the hearts of his longtime devoted, close friends and family members.

Blake’s love of life, sense of humor and contagious smile touched the lives of so many people who will never forget him.

Blake had the opportunity to video chat with Adam Sandler, as one of his last wishes, in which Adam was entertained by Blake!

Memorials may be made to Prime Care Hospice, 4225 W. Glendale Ave., Suite A200, Phoenix, AZ 85051 or Make-a Wish Foundation - www.wish.org.

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16 | The Jewish Press | November 30, 2012

A White House Hanukkah

by OZZIE NOGG House, listening to the West Point Jewish Chapel Cadet lighting a candle on the first night of Hanukkah in The first Hanukkah candle is almost ready to be lit, and Choir sing Maoz Tzur and the U.S. Marine Chamber Jerusalem. But Clinton never threw a White House here I sit, asking myself if there’s still time to re-tool my tra- Orchestra perform A Tribute to Jewish-American Hanukkah celebration. Instead, he included Jewish leaders ditional holiday party menu of latkes and brisket, my tradi- Composers. Sounds good (literally) to me. in a large annual “holiday party.� Jews mingled with tional guest list (our kids and grandkids), and my Christians at those events, but those who kept kosher traditional wardrobe of Levis and Gap sweat shirt. didn’t find much to eat.

This laid-back Hanukkah M.O. has suited our famiThe first official White House Hanukkah party was ly perfectly well for years, but today I’m feeling sameheld on Dec. 10, 2001, hosted by President George old-same-old dowdy and in need of both Haute W. Bush and his wife, Laura. It was she who first recCouture and Haute Cuisine. Blame it on a story I ognized the importance of bringing in what the NY read about the Hanukkah party given at the White Times called “a SWAT team of rabbis� to kosher the House last year by President Obama and Michelle.

White House kitchen, rather than serving TV-style According to the official 2011 Hanukkah dinners that had been the custom at previous White Reception Menu, the Obamas served Homemade House eat-and-greets. This sensitivity was balanced Potato with Scallion Pancakes. (So far, the First by an embarrassing gaffe in 2008 when the Bush Family and our family are on the same page, though staff, by mistake, sent out invitations to the regulation yellow onions are good enough for our Hanukkah party in a format that showed a horsetastes.) After the latkes, however, the similarity drawn cart pulling a Christmas tree to the White between us goes off the rails. Instead of brisket, the House, which was decorated with a holiday wreath.

Obama guests were offered a buffet (strictly kosher) “This belongs right in the ‘Weird but True’ column,� featuring Roulade of Chicken Breast (with fresh one anonymous person told the New York Post. thyme sauce, arugula, artichokes and garlic mashed White House officials hastily apologized, and the potatoes); Filet of Beef Au Jus (topped with Move over, Christmas decorations. Hanukkah is coming to the White House. intended Hanukkah invitations, which bore the Credit: wikimedia commons image of a menorah given to the White House durcaramelized pearl onions and shiitake mushrooms); Pine Nut Herb Crusted Lamb Chops (crowned with a dollop And finally. The outfit Michele wore to her 2011 ing the Harry Truman administration, were mailed the folof mango and mission fig chutney); plus Dill and Vodka Hanukkah party showed off her toned arms and pitch-per- lowing day.

Scottish Smoked Salmon (garnished with capers, chopped fect political savvy. Observers say Mrs. Obama was clad in a Try as I might, I found no record of the Bush Hanukkah egg, parsley and lemon wedges.) And get this. The Obama’s metallic blue sleeveless dress -- the same shade of blue fea- Party menus. (Cholent with Chipotle Peppers comes to Hanukkah Menu also included Assorted Fresh Sushi Rolls. tured on the Israeli flag -- with multiple ropes of matching mind) or a description of Laura’s outfits (most probably a Yes. Sushi Rolls. Your choice of California, Spicy Tuna, beads around her neck. One look in my full-length mirror proper, long-sleeved suit.) But whatever the case, kol Vegetable, Pickled Ginger or Wasabi. To wrap up the meal, told me, fuhgeddaboudit. hakavod to George and Laura Bush for establishing the the Dessert Station featured Homemade Soufganiyot plus To be perfectly fair and bi-partisan, Hanukkah came to annual White House Hanukkah bash. And yasher koach to Crème Anglaise with Raspberry Jelly. Why not? the White House in 1989, when President George H.W. the Obamas for continuing the tradition.

And who was invited to the White House Festival Feast? Bush displayed a menorah there, given to him by the Happily, my angst over whether our personal Hanukkah The Obama girls, of course. Michelle’s mom, certainly. Synagogue Council of America. But the first president to celebration needs an overhaul has passed. At best, this year I (Clearly, we and POTUS and FLOTUS share the need to actually light a menorah in the White House was Bill may use scallions in my latkes instead of regular onions. The have family around us at special moments.) In addition, Clinton when, in 1993, he invited a dozen schoolchildren to guest list -- kids, grandkids and extended family -- will not however, the Obama gathering included over five-hundred the Oval Office for a small ceremony. The event made head- change (though it might be fun to pull a Bill Clinton and run luminaries -- Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, lines when 6-year-old Ilana Kattan’s ponytail dipped into the my hands through Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s curls.)

Michael Oren (Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S.) plus eight flame. Clinton ran his hands through her hair to snuff out Wardrobe-wise, my jeans -- like Michele’s dress -- are blue.

Jewish Senators, twenty-one Jewish members of the House the smoke.

And I might consider accessorizing my sweatshirt with mulof Representatives, rabbis of various stripes and high-profile Menorah lightings grew in importance during the Clinton tiple ropes of beads.

Jewish lay leaders, all cozy in the Grand Foyer of the White years. In 1998 he joined Israel’s President, Ezer Weizman, in Hag sameyach, everyone.

“Thank you...Thank you.�

Rabbi Kripke

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JCC Lion Select Basketball roars

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by NICK RUNCO Our program’s success will be determined not only by how Sports Programming Coordinator the teams compete on the court, but by how the kids improve The JCC Lion Select Basketball teams are achieving at a individually, because every kid has a different level that they high level this season. In our first tournament, the Plattview are capable of reaching. It is also important that players learn Junior Trojans Shootout with to work within a team envia record 150 teams registered ronment by growing relationto compete; the JCC Lions ships and trust amongst teamwent a combined 10-2, winmates and coaches. ning three of four division Our seventh grade team can championships. compete with any team its age Winning is important, but in the State of Nebraska. The the biggest thing that we try number one thing is that this to do is develop work ethic team plays hard, plays through and teach life lessons, so we every whistle and never gives have created a competitive up. They have been down late atmosphere that pushes them in games but found ways to each and every day. come back. They not only play Leagues started Sept. 19 for together as a team on the Front row: Jack Neary, left, Jack Kinney, Owen Sutherland, the fifth through eighth court, but have formed tight Jeremy Silverman and Tyler Hansen; Back row: Luke Ranck, graders and will run until the friendships off the court as left, Andrew Anderson, Andrew Falck and coach Tim middle of March. Each team well. On the court, Colton Jackson. Not pictured: Spencer Schomers and Nick Arkfeld. practices twice a week, plays Feist leads the team with an at least one game per week, as well as participating in four to average of over 10 points and 10 rebounds per game. five regional tournaments throughout the season.

The eighth grade team is working extremely hard and comWe push the kids to be their best, but we do it without petes in every game. They are mature and composed and give pushing too hard. Each practice, we teach that giving one their all regardless of the outcome. Grant Goldstein has been hundred percent effort is important and for the kids not to an excellent leader for this team because he provides positive worry about making mistakes, as we come back around and energy even when the coach is challenging them to do better. take stock of those mistakes and derive lessons from them.

Other notable mentions are fifth grader Jack Kinney, We are fortunate that all of our coaches have solid basket- whose great play helped seal a victory for a tournament ball backgrounds and are good individuals. This allows us to championship and sixth grader Daniel Rosenfeld who gives focus on identifying each player’s individual strengths and tremendous effort and averages over 10 rebounds per game. helping them develop.

We are proud of all of our players and see them all working The Lion Select program has been extremely successful so hard to improve. far this season. We have been very competitive in every diviThe JCC is hosting our first tournament March 9 and 10. sion. Teams have been playing hard and coaches are doing a To get involved with a great basketball program, contact me great job developing their players. at nrunco@jccomaha.org or at 402.590.2141.

Explaining the ‘Maccabees’ moniker for Jewish athletics

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by JACOB KAMARAS according to the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Russia’s (JNS.org) Jewish athletes from around the world gather Maccabi society joined the fray in 1913, and in the 1930s every four years in Israel for the Olympic-style Maccabiah Poland’s Maccabi federation included 30,000 Jewish athletes Games, not to mention the annual JCC Maccabi Youth in 250 clubs, YIVO said. Before World War II, “probably Games in America. Most Israeli professional basketball and every European country from Poland on east had some sort soccer teams preface their names with “Maccabi” (perhaps of Maccabee team, or Maccabea Club,” Gurock said, repremost notably the hoopsters of Maccabi Tel Aviv), and the senting “an expression of Zionist pride.” athletic teams from Yeshiva University are dubbed -- you The trend continues today, with numerous Jewish sports guessed it -- the Maccabees. teams calling themselves Does all of this mean Judah Maccabees or something simthe Maccabee was a superstar ilar -- including the teams at athlete back in the day?

Yeshiva University (YU). That Actually, history suggests led Gurock to another quesjust the opposite. The story of tion: Since YU is an Hanukkah was one in which Orthodox institution, shouldthe Jews -- seeking to n’t it call its teams the “non“Hellenize” -- started to adopt Maccabees,” to accurately Greek sports, only to have the represent the anti-assimilaanti-assimilationist tionist protagonists of the Maccabees buck that trend as Hanukkah story? Not quite, well as others that blended he answered.

Jewish and secular lifestyles.

“What we like in modern Basketball players from Maccabi Tel Aviv huddle up.

“Calling Jewish sports times [about the historic teams Maccabees is a contradiction in terms because the Maccabees] are not so much their religious values, but their historic Maccabees were anti-sports,” Yeshiva University success in competing against the world,” Gurock said. professor of Jewish History Jeffrey Gurock told JNS.org. He Though the original Maccabees were against the concept explained that the Maccabees’ goal was to “return back [to of organized athletics, Gurock noted that they were still the tradition], go away from these outside influences.” first Jewish group to raise the question of “How can you be Instead, Gurock said, the modern usage of the Maccabee Jewish and engage in a foreign cultural activity called moniker can be traced to 1898, when social Darwinist Max sports?” He explained that in ancient times, sports were Nordau -- founder of the Jewish athletic movement -- associated with pagan culture and ritual rites, but in modern coined the term “muscular Judaism” (muskel-Judenthum) at times, “the great challenge is to integrate that foreign culturthe Second Zionist Congress. Nordau believed the existence al phenomenon called sports into Jewish culture, so that the of strong and physically fit Jews could defeat the classic two can live side by side, which is often a difficult task.” The stereotype that Jews are physically weak and instead depend Maccabees ultimately decided that mixing sports with their solely on their wit.

Jewish lifestyle would be too inconsistent, Gurock said.

The great rabbinic figures of the Middle Ages were conAt YU, the athletic teams themselves -- not the school’s cerned with physical fitness, but sports remained “some- administration -- decided how they should be named. thing foreign to Jewish culture” at the time, Gurock said. Originally the “Blue and Whites,” YU’s teams were the Nordau was looking to emulate Jews who fought against the “Mighty Mites” from the 1940s-1960s, when they struggled world and were successful, and historically speaking, that against athletically superior squads, according to Gurock. In was found most prominently in the story of Hanukkah. the 1970s, the teams adopted their current monikers: the “The only examples we have of Jews who were strong and Maccabees and Lady Maccabees. successful were really the Maccabees,” said Gurock, who is “It’s not today a defiance of tradition, it’s appropriating the also the author of Judaism’s Encounter With American Sports idea of struggle, of success and virility, and power, which is (2005). emblematic of sports,” Gurock said.

From that point on, Gurock said the name Maccabees The name Maccabees fits, Gurock explained, because the became a “badge of honor” for Jews pursuing sports. The university is particularly proud of its Zionist orientation. same year as the Second Zionist Congress, Jews in Berlin “It’s the only place outside of Israel where before every founded the Bar Kochba athletics association, after which game both the Star Spangled Banner and Hatikvah are Jews in Eastern Europe (Galicia, Bulgaria) followed suit, played,” he said. “So what more can you say?”

November 30, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 19

Oh, it’s frying time again -- but it doesn’t have to be

by CHAVIE LIEBER NEW YORK (JTA) -- Gone are the days when the Hanukkah holiday meant an eight-day binge fest of all things fried.

The Festival of Lights, which commemorates the Maccabean revolt against the Greeks, has a longstanding tradition of oily foods such as latkes and donuts in remembrance of the miracle of the temple oil, which lasted eight days instead of the expected one. But for some, the holiday has become an excuse to inhale fried potato pancakes and custard-filled pastry.

“People have a misconception of the tradition to fry on Hanukkah,” Yosef Silver, the author of the popular blog This American Bite [http://www.thisamericanbite.com/], told JTA. “The concept is to remember the oil, but that doesn’t necessarily mean frying.

We’ve gotten so wrapped up with frying, but there are ways to make Hanukkah food, like latkes, just using oil.”

These days, with everyone from the first lady on down drawing attention to our widening waistlines, Jewish foodies have plenty of options for consuming traditional holiday fare without packing on the pounds.

Silver was raised on the old way -- frying everything. But now he prefers to bake latkes rather than fry them.

“If you prefer to use the traditional potato latke recipe, the best way to make it healthy would be to pan fry it with an oil substitute like Pam,” Silver said. “If you want to incorporate oil, add only a tablespoon and lightly

pan fry it.”

For those who prefer a fried taste, Silver suggests swapping potatoes for healthier vegetables that provide vitamins and nutrition as opposed to starch.

“My favorite latke variety to make is my variation using rutabaga and turnip,” Silver said. “Rutabaga is a starchy vegetable, but it’s not actually a carb. It gives a similar consistency to potatoes and is delicious.”

Shaya Klechevsky, a personal chef from Brooklyn who writes the kosher cuisine blog At Your Palate, says there are ways to make healthier donuts, or sufganiyot -- also a traditional Hanukkah food though one generally more popular in Israel than the United States. But Klechevsky warns about playing too much with recipes.

“When making the batter, you can use a little bit of whole wheat if you want to veer away from white flour, but you need to be careful because too much whole wheat will turn your donuts into bricks,” Klechevsky said. “You can also substitute sugar with honey.”

Rather than altering the recipe for the dough, Klechevsky says the best way to make healthy donuts is to use healthy fillings, like sugar-free jams, nuts, fruit and granola.

“The best option is to bake donuts rather than fry them,” Klechevsky said. “The taste

won’t be the same, but it will be close. You can buy little round molds and fill them with batter.”

Erica Lokshin, a wellness dietitian at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, points out that baked donuts have half the

calories and one-third the fat of fried.

“Hanukkah foods loaded in oil are high in cholesterol, which can be really bad for your heart, and eating them for eight days straight increases risks,” Lokshin said.

Lokshin says that when serving toppings to go with latkes, reduced-fat sour cream and unsweeted applesauce are the best options. And since no one wants to feel deprived around the holidays, she suggests picking one night to indulge.

“It’s better to designate which night of the holiday you will enjoy latkes and donuts, and stick to your regular eating routine on the other nights,” Lokshin said. “Otherwise,

you’re picking at a donut here and a latke there, and over an eight-day period you will probably consume more than you hoped you would, and it will throw off your eating routine in the long run.

Here are a couple of healthier latke recipes.

ROASTED GINGERED CARROT LATKES (Shaya Klechevsky) Ingredients: 6 cups coarsely grated peeled carrots 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons whole wheat flour 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 7 teaspoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger 3 large eggs, beaten to blend Blended olive oil (for frying) Preparation: Preheat oven to 425°. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with olive oil, or take a pastry brush dipped in olive oil and lightly coat the foil. Place grated carrots in a large bowl; press with paper towels to absorb any moisture. In another bowl, combine flours, salt, baking powder and pepper, and blend together. Add carrots, ginger and eggs to the flour mixture and combine. Mixture shouldn’t be too wet or too dry. When forming patties, the mixture should stick to itself and not come apart. If it’s too wet, add a little bit more Continued on page 20

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20 | The Jewish Press | November 30, 2012

Dreidel fun-facts

by BINYAMIN KAGEDAN (JNS.org) • The word dreidel is Yiddish, and comes from the German verb dreihen, meaning “to spin.” Dreidel literally means “little spinner.” The first dreidel players were Yiddish speaking Jews in medieval Europe.

In fact, playing with tops has been a popular pastime across Western Europe since at least the 16th century!

• Many believe that the four letters on the dreidel nun, gimel, hay, and shin were taken from the Hebrew expression Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, meaning “a great miracle happened there,” referring to the miraculous events of the Hanukkah story in ancient Israel. Really,

It’s frying time this meaning was added later on -- the letters originally represented the Yiddish instructions for what to do when you land

on each one (Yiddish and Hebrew use the same alphabet): Gimel for gantz, “whole”: take the whole pot; hay for halb, “half ”: take half the pot; nun for nisht, “nothing”: don’t

take out or put in; and shin for shtehl einl, “put in”: put some of your coins into the pot.

• As the dreidel became a symbol associated with Hanukkah, many legends began to stem from it, like this one: When Antiochus decreed that Jewish law may no longer be studied in public, righteous Jews defied him and continued to teach Torah to their children. When they saw the king’s henchman coming, groups of students would quickly hide their books and bring out their dreidels, pretending that they had merely gathered for a bit of fun and gambling.

• Dreidel spinning has even become a competitive sport! The group Major League Dreidel hosts tournaments each year in New York City and crowns a champion for the longest-lasting continuous spin.

Binyamin Kagedan has a master’s in Jewish Thought from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Latkes from Jerusalem From the kitchen of MOTI BUCHBUT Executive Chef - Inbal Jerusalem Hotel www.inbalhotel.com SWEET POTATO LATKES Ingredients 2.25 lbs. Sweet Potatoes A pinch of salt A pinch of pepper 7 ounces flour (white) 2 tablespoons of spicy chili sauce 1 medium sized egg Oil to fry Preparation: Wash the sweet potatoes thoroughly and place on a baking tray. Bake in the oven at 300° for approximately 40 minutes. Cool and peel. Place them in a colander to cool com-

pletely and remove the excess liquid.

In a separate bowl, mash the potatoes until they become a smooth puree. Add all of the remaining ingredients.

Festival of Lights

Heat a frying pan with the oil and create latkes using two tablespoons or a pastry bag.

Fry for 3 minutes on each side and serve warm on a bed of apple sauce and with a ball of cream cheese.

Serving suggestions: You can also serve on a platter alongside potato latkes as well. For regular potato latkes add 3 eggs and just 4.25 ounces of flour. Add some chopped parsley and follow the rest of the preparation above. Latkes can also be served with seasonal fruits such as mango and pineapple.

Chanukah Samayach!

Continued from page 19 flour; if it’s too dry, add more beaten egg.

Allow to stand for 10-12 minutes for ingredients to absorb into each other. Place patties, about 3 1/2-inch rounds, onto the greased baking sheet. Leave a little room around each one. Place tray into middle rack of oven and roast for 10-12 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Makes about 15 latkes.

RUTABAGA AND TURNIP LATKE (Yosef Silver) Ingredients: 2 rutabaga, shredded 2 turnips, shredded 1 large onion, shredded 1 egg, plus one egg white 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper Preparation: Preheat the oven to 375°. Mix all the ingredients, then shape the latkes so they are approximately the size of your palm and about 1/4-inch thick. Grease a cookie sheet with olive oil if you want to keep with tradition, or substitute coconut oil for a lighter alternative. Place the latkes on the cookie sheet with space between them.

Once the oven has heated, bake the latkes until golden brown.

Wishing everyone a Happy Hanukkah.

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November 30, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 21

Dreidels: clay and otherwise

People of the byte MARK MIETKIEWICZ Whether yours is made of clay and little or from silver and big, Hanukkah’s four-sided top never fails to instill lovely memories in children and bring back delightful ones in the not-so-young. That’s why it’s no surprise that there are so many wonderful pages devoted to dreidels.

How did the dreidel - or sevivon - become associated with the holiday of Hanukkah? “One anecdote recalls the dreidel from the times when the Syrians prohibited the Jews from studying Torah. When the Syrians saw a group of Jews together, they checked to see that they were not studying.

The Jews would hide their books and take out their dreidels and trick the Syrians into thinking they were just playing a game.”

Rabbi David Golinkin disagrees. The president of Jerusalem’s Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies says explanations like the one above were “invented after the fact. The dreidel game originally had nothing to do with Hanukkah” and that similar games had “been played by various people in various languages for many centuries.”

Regardless, the dreidel is now a firmly entrenched and beloved tradition that has even developed a mystical side.

Lee Ratzan suggests that like a dreidel, “the human spirit has four primary attributes: self (soul, nefesh), body (guf), reason (sechel) and everything (by extension, evil, hakol).

When the dreidel is spun the four sides can no longer be distinguished and blend into a harmonious oneness about a single infinite point. Spinning the dreidel is a symbolic act of striving for that harmony.”

Although each Jewish holiday fulfils a unique role, I’ve been amused to come across good-natured sites which pit Hanukkah against Purim, or more specifically latkes vs. hamantashen debates. However, Rabbi Yanki Tauber explains in The Underhand Spin that the two holidays actually have something in common: a spinning toy.

“Still, there’s a difference: the dreidel is spun from above, while the gragger is turned from below.” Why? On Hanukkah, the Jewish people were saved by outright miracles “from above.” While on Purim, salvation is disguised in a series of ordinary events “from below.”

If you think you know exactly what a dreidel looks like, pay a visit to Eran Grebler’s DraydelHouse.com for dozens of delightful designs as well as at the marvelous dreidelfun.com. Marsha Plafkin created another one I particularly admire. Her Braille Dreidel is a simple yet striking variation.

If you are inspired to make your own, you can start simple with a paper dreidel. Just print out the pattern, color it, cut it out, assemble it and spin away.

Oh, and if you’ve never had a little dreidel (and made it out of clay), it’s not too late! Just follow the instructions at ehow.com. I don’t know if it will help you haul in the chocolate gelt but I came across an advanced mathematical discussion looking at probability and the dreidel. Visit http://skyclassjoanmath.blogspot.com.

And speaking of trying to gain an advantage, baseball has corked bats. Hockey has overly curved sticks. And can you believe it, Hanukkah has trick dreidels! Those are dreidels with the jackpot winning letter “Gimel” etched into all four sides. Before you get too up in arms, the “Great Trick Dreidel” is a project to raise funds for Toys of Hope which provides toys, clothing and other items to needy and homeless children and their families.

Nothing can replace that visceral thrill of spinning your own dreidel. And since everything seems to have gone hitech these days, you can try your luck on your computer with some virtual dreidels. I like the delightful one at the Jewish Outreach Institute which also includes the classic rules.

Rather than bet on which side their dreidel will come to rest, competitors lusting for the title at the Major League Dreidel Championship vie to see whose tops will spin the longest. You can listen to a delightful report from NPR that takes you to the Spinagogue where teams with names like Spinona Ryder, Jimmy Gimel, Debbie Does Dreidel and Jewbacca lay it all on the table. And don’t miss the related interview with the “knishioner” of Major League Dreidel, Eric Pavony, who offers tips to keep your sevivon spinning and spinning.

I came across a couple of other online games that should also please dreidel lovers. The Dreidel Slide Puzzle (find it at http://windows9download.net) challenges you to unscramble the pieces to make a picture of a dreidel. Once you’ve solved that, try the elegant yet challenging Dreidel jigsaw puzzle at jigzone.com.* (Nicely executed but I don’t

quite understand why the photo has a dreidel sitting on a page from Purim’s Megillat Esther!)

Although the classic Hanukkah foods are latkes and the jelly-filled sufganiyot (doughnuts), there’s no reason you can’t indulge your passion for dreidels. Try some Candy Dreidels at ohnuts.com or make your own at clickorlando.com, and find Dreidel Cookie recipes and how-to at dianasdesserts.com.

When you walk into your Judaica shop and plunk down a buck or two for a brightly-colored plastic dreidel, there’s a good chance it came to life not in Jerusalem or Brooklyn but

in the Far East. But it wasn’t so easy for Tablet Mag’s Nick Frisch and Bourrée Lam to find a dreidel manufacturer in Hong Kong. “Mistrust and secrecy are rife in the shadowy world of dreidel production. American importers zealously guard the identities of those Chinese suppliers who provide swindle-free, dependable-quality goods.” Read about their quest for an elusive “spin-dice” maker at Tabletmag.com.

And don’t forget the music. Head over to YouTube for dozens of version of Sevivon Sov Sov Sov and Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel (Proceed with caution if you come across the South Park rendition unless you are quite familiar with the gang that has created this decidedly different version.

You’ve been warned.)

Everybody’s favorite little dreidel is (we know!) made of clay. But if you want a new dreidel to sing about, look no further than the Hava Nashira Jewish Songleader’s Resource. There are dozens of modern variations of the classic, including: I have a little dreidel, I made it from cement.

And now our lovely hardwood floor has a nasty dent.

I have a little dreidel, I made it out of glue The baby tried to spin it, and now she’s spinning too.

I have a little dreidel, Made from a CD-ROM. It helped me launch a start-up Called DreidelSpin-dot-com!

Mark Mietkiewicz can be contacted at highway@ rogers.com. * Be careful when you visit jigzone.com; it’s very addictive, and there are other games that beg to be tried out ‘jst once.’

Wishing the community a happy Hanukkah!

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Shining a new light on the Jewish response to Christmas

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by PENNY SCHWARTZ edy in a San Francisco Chinese restaurant on Christmas. significant, Sarna asserts, A Kosher Christmas is important BOSTON (JTA) -- From Kung Pao kosher comedy to a Two decades later the event is still going strong and being because it portrays how two religions are transformed by the swinging Mardi Gras version of the Dreidel song, two new replicated in cities across America. knowledge of the other.

Hanukkah season releases explore the intriguing, delightful On a more serious note, Plaut reveals a long history of The CD, ‘Twas the Night Before Hanukkah ($15.99), is a and sometimes perplexing ways in which American Jews Jewish volunteerism on Christmas, serving the needy and lively and inspiring music collection gathered by the have responded to Christmas.

Idelsohn Society, a nonprofit volunteer organization In a book and an audio CD compilation, the holithat aims to celebrate a Jewish musical heritage that day season is seen and heard in a new light. An may be lost to history. added bonus: the covers of both are enticing and The two-CD set includes 17 tracks for Hanukkah entertaining. and Christmas -- some familiar and others that are In the book A Kosher Christmas (Rutgers lesser known. Performers on the Hanukkah disc University Press, $22.95) subtitled ‘Tis the Season to include Woody Guthrie, Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt, be Jewish, Joshua Eli Plaut offers a richly detailed, Flory Jagoda, Mickey Katz, the Klezmatics and page-turning read that draws on historical docuDebbie Friedman. Among the voices that croon and ments and ethnographic research sprinkled with swing on the Christmas disc are The Ramones, Theo often humorous images and photos.

Bikel, Dinah Shore, Sammy Davis Jr. and Benny In his introduction Plaut, a rabbi and scholar, Goodman. admits to a lifelong fascination with Christmas. The A 31-page booklet of liner notes is a fascinating son of a rabbi, he recalls as a young child growing up read of short essays, notes on the songs and colorful on Long Island in the 1960s that his mother dutifulreproductions of old Hanukkah recordings. ly took him to sit on Santa’s lap every December.

The project started as an effort to present a histori“She was never worried about any influence on me cal survey of Hanukkah music, according to David as a child because my family was secure in its Jewish The audio compilation ’Twas the Night Before Hannukkah and the book A Katznelson, a veteran record producer who is one of identity,” he writes.

Kosher Christmas delve into the ways that Jewish Americans handle the four principals of the Idelsohn Society. Other Plaut paints a historical portrait of the shifts in Christmas. members of the core group include Roger Bennett, American Jewish attitudes toward Christmas -- the Credit: Idelsohn Society/Rutgers University Press Courtney Holt and Josh Kun. only American holiday founded on religion, he As their search deepened, they found noteworthy notes. working shifts for non-Jewish co-workers, allowing them to Hanukkah recordings, Katznelson recalls, some by wellJews have employed “a multitude of strategies to face the spend the day with family and friends. known performers, others by little-known singers and eduparticular challenges of Christmas and to overcome feelings Plaut also covers the challenges faced by intermarried cators. But the group was most struck by the abundance of of exclusion and isolation,” he writes, adding that Jews actual- families at Hanukkah and Christmas. He addresses as well Christmas music by Jewish composers and performers. ly have played a crucial role in popularizing Christmas by the subject of public displays of religious symbols, with Jews “The biggest Jewish names in music have at least one composing many of the country’s most beloved holiday songs. on both sides of the issue.

Christmas recording in their catalog,” they write in the liner Plaut treats readers to a chapter on the popular Jewish cusJonathan Sarna, the American Jewish historian who wrote notes. tom of eating Chinese food on Christmas, a tradition that the foreword, cautions that the book should not be read The group shifted the lens of their project to tell the full story surprisingly dates back more than a century to Eastern merely as a story of assimilation. In a phone conversation “of how American Jews used music to negotiate their place in European immigrants on the Lower East Side of New York. with JTA, the prominent Brandeis University professor American national culture,” according to the liner notes.

One photo shows a sign in a Chinese restaurant window that argues that if that were the case, the book would be about “This was an amazing way to look at Jewish identity in the thanks the Jewish people for their patronage during how Jews observe Christmas.

20th century, through a combination of the history of Christmas.

Rather, Plaut chronicles how Jews demonstrate their Hanukkah recordings side by side with Jews performing In the 1990s, comedian Lisa Geduldig hosted the first Jewish identity through alternative ways of acting on Christmas songs,” Katznelson affirms.

Kung Pao Kosher Comedy evening of Jewish stand-up com- Christmas that show them to be Jewish and American. Most Continued on page 23

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And for dessert...

From the kitchen of MOTI BUCHBUT Executive Chef- Inbal Jerusalem Hotel www.inbalhotel.com ENGLISH CAKE SERVED WITH CHOCOLATE & DRIED FRUITS Ingredients CAKE: 7 ounces butter or margarine 7 ounces brown sugar 4 medium eggs

7 ounces finely chopped dried fruits and nuts (such as cherries, apricots, almonds, walnuts etc.)

7.5 ounces flour ¼ cup sweet red wine 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon vanilla essence A pinch of salt Decoration: 3.5 ounces bittersweet chocolate (place an extra ounce aside for final garnishing) Thinly sliced seasonal fruits (such as apple, pineapple, pear etc.)

Icing sugar

Optional: Pareve whipped cream, amaretto liquor Preparation: Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees°.

Baking trays (either TWO 7 x 7 inch trays or one larger 14x14 tray) In the bowl of a food processor, beat the butter, margarine and sugar until creamy.

Combine the flour and baking powder. Add the eggs, wine, pinch of salt, flour and vanilla essence combination to the butter, margarine and sugar, alternating between adding the liquids and flour.

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Jewish response to Christmas Continued from page 22 Some of the earliest Hanukkah recordings appear in the 1920s and 1930s. By then, what had been a minor Jewish holiday through the later years of the 19th century had been transformed into a major celebration that was promoted by Jewish religious leaders and embraced by American Jewry.

The emergence of Hanukkah recordings parallels that transformation, Katznelson suggests. In the postwar 1950s, in addition to traditional songs, livelier recordings targeted children.

On the Hanukkah recording, Katznelson points to Yevonim (The Greeks) by Rosenblatt as the showstopper. Rosenblatt, a Ukraine native who immigrated to New York in 1912 at the age of 30, became known in the U.S. as the greatest cantor of his time.

A Yiddish song about the Hanukkah oil that burned for eight days, Yevonim opens with a chorus of women followed by Rosenblatt’s huge, haunting rich tenor full of color and warmth.

Many will be surprised by Guthrie’s upbeat version of Hanukkah Dance, part of his 1940s collection of Jewish songs made for Moses Asch, founder of Folkways Records.

“He can take anything and make it American,” Katznelson says of the late folk legend, whose centennial birthday this

year is being marked by performances of his music across the country.

Sure to be a party favorite is the version of Dreidel performed live by Jeremiah Lockwood, Ethan Miller and Luther Dickinson. The song was recorded live at a pop-up Hanukkah record store concert hosted last year in San Francisco by the Idelsohn Society.

At the end of the song, the trio takes off into the New Orleans classic Iko Iko, sung to the tune of Dreidel. The tune no doubt will get listeners off the couch, singing and dancing.

On the Christmas CD, Katznelson is most drawn to Bikel’s little-known 1967 recording of Sweetest Dreams Be Thine.

Bikel, the beloved Jewish folk singer and actor, performs the Christmas song moving between Hebrew and English.

“It’s the quintessential track of the whole compilation,” Katznelson says. “It’s just Hanukkah and Christmas, side by side, a perfect mishmosh.”

Katznelson says the society hopes the music conveys a deeper sense of Jewish history while raising questions that provoke conversation about the meaning of the holiday music.

Some may hear familiar songs in a new perspective, he says.

“This is music that is usually in the background,” Katznelson says. “We’re bringing it to the foreground.”

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24 | The Jewish Press | November 30, 2012

Defiance, then destruction: Hanukkah in the Warsaw Ghetto

by RAFAEL MEDOFF (JNS.org) “Never before in Jewish Warsaw were there as many Hanukkah celebrations as in this year of the wall.”

That entry from the diary of Hebrew educator Chaim Kaplan in December 1940, shortly after the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto were built, may surprise those who are accustomed to thinking of the ghetto only in terms of the misery of its Jewish residents under the Nazi jackboot. But in those early months of the ghetto, before the worst periods of deprivation and persecution overwhelmed the Jews, their spirit showed on the first Hanukkah behind the walls.

“Because of the sword that hovers over our heads,” the 1940 Hanukkah festivities were not held in the streets, Kaplan wrote. “Hanukkah parties were held in nearly every courtyard, even in rooms which face the street; the blinds were drawn, and that was sufficient. How much joy, how much of a feeling of national kinship there was in these Hanukkah parties! After sixteen months of Nazi occupation [since the German invasion of Poland in September 1939], we came to life again.”

Kaplan was particularly pleased that “we even deceived the Judenrat,” the Nazi-appointed Jewish leadership. “It tried to ban the holding of Hanukkah parties without a special permit... But this took effect only on paper; the Judenrat was fooled. Hundreds of celebrations were arranged and the stupid Judenrat did not get a single penny.”

In his diary, Kaplan quoted from a speech by a Zionist leader at one of the Hanukkah events: “In all the countries where they want to bury us alive, we pull the gravediggers in with us.” Kaplan could not realize how prophetic those words would prove less than three years later, when the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto revolt would take down many Nazis before losing their own lives.

Kaplan, 40, was the founder and principal of a Hebrew elementary school in Warsaw. He began keeping a diary, in Hebrew, in 1933. His entries about life in Jewish Warsaw following the construction of the ghetto walls offer a heartbreaking chronicle of disease, starvation, random atrocities and, ultimately, mass deportations.

With 30 percent of Warsaw’s population crammed into an area comprising barely 2 percent of the city, extreme overcrowding facilitated the rapid spread of disease. At the same time, Jews were limited to food rations of just 181 calories

daily. By the summer of 1941, more than 5,000 Jews were “Not a day goes by that the Nazis do not conduct a slaughter,” dying monthly from starvation or disease.

Kaplan recorded. Homelessness, disease, and starvation Kaplan’s diary entries throughout 1941 describe sidewalks reached epidemic proportions. “In the gutters, amidst the filled with “families bundled up in rags, moaning with refuse, one can see almost naked and barefoot little children heartrending voices...formerly well to do people who never wailing pitifully,” Kaplan wrote. “Every morning you will see had to worry about their little bodies frozen to death in the ghetto matters of food” streets.” crowding the soup By the early summer of 1942, refugees reaching kitchens and “waiting Warsaw from elsewhere in Poland provided details their turn for a bowl of of the fate that awaited each Jewish community tarwatery soup,” and rangeted by the Nazis. Jews deported from their towns dom atrocities such as were taken “in tightly sealed freight cars,” Kaplan a Nazi with “a face as wrote, “until they come to the place of their execured as fire” wielding an tion, where they are killed.” iron whip, savagely In July 1942, Warsaw’s turn came. Kaplan described lashing an elderly Jew the first deportations in agonizing detail. Recording for 20 minutes straight. the tragedy of his people had become his life’s purThere were too many pose, even as others doubted: “Some of my friends horrors for the diarist and acquaintances who know the secret of my diary to keep up with. “My urge me, in their despair, to stop writing. ‘Why? For inkwell has grown tired what purpose? Will you live to see it published? Will of lamentations,” these words of yours reach the ears of future generaKaplan wrote at one tions?’” point. “If I tried to write Somehow, they did. down everything in In early August 1942, realizing the end was near, order, I couldn’t. Nor Kaplan stuffed his diaries into kerosene cans and would I be recording entrusted them to a friend who was able to smuggle anything new. Robberthem to a Polish acquaintance in a nearby village. ies, murders, humiliaKaplan and his wife would not live to see another tions, deprivations -Hanukkah. They were deported from Warsaw and Children in the Warsaw Ghetto. nothing more.” gassed soon afterwards in the Treblinka death camp.

Credit: The David S. Wyman Institute By the time the readThe Polish villager eventually sold the diaries to for Holocaust Studies New York University. Scroll of Agony: The Warsaw er reaches Kaplan’s diary entries for Hanukkah in 1941, the contrast with those Diary of Chaim A. Kaplan was first published in English in of the preceding year is evident. The festive and defiant 1965, then subsequently in Kaplan’s beloved Hebrew and mood of 1940 was just a distant memory. “This year very four other languages. Although Kaplan did not live to see his few Hanukkah candles were lit,” Kaplan wrote in December words in print, the spirit of defiance he witnessed in the 1941. “Our holiday has been turned into a day of mourning. Hanukkah celebrations of 1940 lives on in the diary that has The courtyard of the prison on Dzielna Street was turned become one of the most important sources of eyewitness into a slaughterhouse today.” Fifteen Jews who were caught testimony about the Holocaust. outside the city limits had been lined up and executed.

Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. In the months to follow, the situation grew steadily worse. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, and author or ediRandom killings became more frequent and better organized. tor of 15 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust.

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Hanukkah: The untold story

by BINYAMIN KAGEDAN (JNS.org) During the eight days of Hanukkah, traditional Jews add the following to their daily prayers: “In the days of Mattathias the son of Johanan the High Priest, the Hasmonean and his sons, when the evil kingdom of Greece set upon your nation Israel to make them forget your teachings, and to remove them from the laws you desire, you in your great mercy... gave the mighty into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure.”

Sound familiar? The little history lesson in this prayer is probably very close to the story of Judah Maccabee and King Antiochus you remember from Hebrew school: The underdog heroes attain a miraculous victory over the powerful villains against all odds, winning back their religious freedom and purifying the defiled temple in Jerusalem.

That’s the short story.

The longer version is who led the not quite as heart- Mattathias, Maccabees in revolt. warming or morally Credit: PD Seleucid King clear-cut. Ancient hisAntiochus and Jniemenmaa torical records, especially the little known Book of Maccabees, actually tell of a bitter and bloody internal conflict that pitted Jew against Jew in a fight for political and religious domination.

Towards the end of the fourth century BCE, Greek Hellenistic culture had spread to every part of Alexander the Great’s massive empire, and Judea was no exception.

Certain Jews, mainly those belonging to the wealthy elite of Jerusalem, enthusiastically embraced the offerings of this culture -- Greek names and dress, the gymnasium, even the Greek gods -- and curried the favor of Alexander’s heirs, the ruling Seleucids, in return for their cooperation. The poorer farming communities of the rural Judean countryside, however, resisted the changes that were sweeping the ancient world, unwilling to give up the traditional Jewish beliefs and customs of their ancestors.

The focal point of the conflict was often the high priesthood, which at the time was the most powerful office in the land. Tensions boiled over when Hellenized Jews paid Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes (the famous Antiochus of the Hanukkah story), to replace the reigning high priest with a Hellenist sympathizer who was not born of the priestly line.

At the time, explains famed Jewish historian Solomon Grayzel, Antiochus’ actions were economically and politically motivated, and had nothing to do with suppressing Jewish religion. After all, there is no record of him imposing antiJewish policies on the many diaspora Jewish communities under his rule. However, when Antiochus’ power play sparked an uprising in and around Jerusalem, he reacted harshly by banning circumcision and observance of dietary laws within Judea, and erecting a statue of Zeus in the Holy Temple.

Now the growing rift in Judean society blew wide open.

Hellenized Jews not only supported the repressive policy, but also helped Antiochus’ men violently enforce it in the traditional Judean villages. In response, when the traditionalists rose up under the leadership of Mattathias, their fury was directed at their Hellenized countrymen. 1 Maccabees reports that Mattathias’ followers, called hasidim, or “pious ones,” slaughtered assimilated Jews and circumcised male children by force. Fearing for their lives, well-connected Hellenists called upon the Seleucid armies for protection, and it is with the ensuing battle that the well-known version of the Hanukkah story begins.

Binyamin Kagedan has a master’s in Jewish Thought from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

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Voicing the Meaning of The Hanukkah Song

by STEPHEN WHITFIELD (JNS.org) How’s this for international influence? In 2004 a seminar was offered on American Jewish culture at the University of Munich; the students were required to present their research on a representative Jewish figure who has made a significant contribution to the arts or to thought in the United States. As the instructor, I asked the first Bavarianbased student who came to my office to indicate her choice of a topic, and was stunned by her selection: “Adam Sandler.”

The comic actor is almost certainly better known for The Hanukkah Song than for any of the three-dozen movies in which he has starred. It premiered on a December 1994 show of Saturday Night Live and thus drew popular attention to a holiday that, only a decade earlier, had inspired President Ronald Reagan to tell religious broadcasters of his pleasure in looking out at Lafayette Park and seeing “the huge menorah, celebrating the Passover season.” Sandler’s initial version generated such enthusiasm that he did two sequels. In 2002 the concept of The Hanukkah Song was expanded into an animated film, Sony Pictures’ Eight Crazy Nights, which may be the only Hollywood film dedicated to this holiday. In 1999, when a chapter of the Hillel Foundation was inaugurated at West Point, the Jewish cadets celebrated the occasion by singing The Hanukkah Song. It had evidently displaced I Have a Little Dreidel.

The popularity of Sandler’s song can be gauged by setting it off against two other recent musical efforts to pump meaning into the festival. In 1983 folksinger Peter Yarrow decided to tap into his own secular Jewish heritage when Peter, Paul and Mary were scheduled to perform a “Holiday Celebration” at Carnegie Hall. In Light One Candle Yarrow asked listeners to light a taper “for the terrible sacrifice/ Justice and freedom demand/But light one candle for the wisdom to know/When the peacemaker’s time is at hand.”

But seven years later the idealism marking much of Jewish politics would give way to satire, when Tom Lehrer invoked Hanukkah in southern California, “wearing sandals, /Lighting candles/By the sea.” Luckily for him, the holiday itself rhymed with Santa Monica, just as the demographic shift to the Sunbelt ensured that fewer and fewer Jews would be celebrating “Shavuos in East St. Louis.” The comforts of California even led Lehrer to wonder at the imaginary reaction of “Judas Maccabeus/Boy, if he could see us.”

Compared to The Hanukkah Song, Yarrow’s denunciation of persecution and injustice came across as too earnest for popular taste, an echo of the Sixties out of sync with the administration of Ronald Reagan. Compared to the moral fervor of Light One Candle, Sandler’s song is downright silly. Compared to the cleverness and wit of I’m Spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica, Sandler’s list song is amateurish and trite. No inspiration or perspiration was required to concoct the rhymes. The names of the celebrities are so easy to substitute that they violate the central rule of the lyricist’s craft, which is to make the climactic words both surprising and inevitable.

The Hanukkah Song nevertheless caught on. It’s a reason-

Adam Sandler has come a long way since releasing his ballad of young Jewish angst in 1994.

Credit: EPA/Mike Nelson able guess that Sandler wasn’t trying to emulate Cole Porter anyway, and preferred to reach out to adolescents and preadolescents -- and of course to the young at heart. (The second, 1999 version was recorded live at Brandeis University.)

The popularity of The Hanukkah Song isn’t entirely explainable in terms of the degradation of taste, however. But when

movie and television stars are more familiar than any author or almost any politician, celebrities are recognizable in a way that no religious authority, no rabbi or sage, can hope to match. The Hanukkah Song is therefore the soundtrack to the historian Daniel J. Boorstin’s famous definition of fame, which is bestowed on people well-known for their wellknownness. Boorstin contrasted them with the heroes whose great deeds the bards once recorded, a distinction lost upon the students of Manhattan day school who, when pollsters asked them in 1996 to name their heroes, put Jerry Seinfeld first. Finishing second was Adam Sandler.

In taking for granted the authority of celebrity, The Hanukkah Song addresses the emotional need for Yuletide solace. For children feeling estranged during the season, because the parents deny the divinity of Christ, Sandler offers a comic affirmation intended -- quite honorably -- to assuage the psychic pain of feeling excluded. Irving Berlin had the inspired idea of turning Christmas into a holiday that is more meteorological than theological, that recalls the excitement of snow but neglects to mention the birth of mankind’s savior. White Christmas (1942) became the most recorded song in history.

Sandler is (characteristically) less subtle in confronting what membership in a religious minority imposes. But he did know how to touch a tender place in the heart of the American Jewish family, at a season of special vulnerability.

Stephen J. Whitfield holds the Max Richter Chair in American Civilization at Brandeis University and is the author of In Search of American Jewish Culture (University Press of New England, 1999).

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