It's the 25th of Kislev ...

very nice dinner we had. Lotsa veggies and the lottkes were kinda the main dish.
We brought all sorts of dippy condiments that the hostess pre -approved and was happy we brought them.

My wife knitted the scarves and they were presented when we left (we were the last to go and were hellping cleanup)

I could be a Jew, its a philosophy as much as it is a religion, maybe its a religion who"s "parishioners" have grown out of the need for a God in many cases. Its got a religious tradition thats been haggled by centuries of backbreaking interpretation. I love the mind games it takes to be A Jew, AND , to me the most important thing is, None of this heaven/hell **** . The rules are a little inane, . I dont think I could keep kosher with all these oysters in a cream chowder.

Had latkes tonight myself. They're called "boxty" here.

Maybe we're kosher katoliks.

Hey, go fer it. Kosher's only necessary if you're leaning to Orthodox-land. I was brought up kosher but my folks are a lot laxer than they were then. We don't keep kosher (we don't have pork and beef in the house because I don't eat them, less to do with religion than to do with food restrictions, but we don't make sure the chicken or turkey is kosher, although we should more for health reasons than anything else), my brother does, it's all good.



lmur, if the lion and the lamb lie down together, doesn't the meerkat get jealous?

Meerkats are INSATIABLE.

Not if he's got a h-h-horny toad to fool around with...

I shudder to think what the children will look like.

I was thinking of starting a new topic, checked first to see if there was one already, this seems to be it....

Sozlet wants to celebrate Hanukkah this year. I'm half-Jewish but the Jewish half (my dad) was never interested in any of this stuff and so I never celebrated Hanukkah. (We visited my paternal grandma every spring so I know about Passover from celebrating it with her, that's about it.)

I have a menorah. I have candles. Can anyone kind of summarize the high points, things that a kid would enjoy and have the most meaning? (I'll re-read this thread, meanwhile...)

OK, re-read, helpful! Maybe we'll get a dreidel. We always get gelt.

Starts on December 16th this year.

One question:



Sham = Shin?

Also, couldja give me a pronunciation guide? (Anyone.)

Thanks!

Soz, Like all Jewish holidays, Chanukah starts the night before the first full day of the holiday. So this year the first night is December 15.

Sorry I can't help with the pronunciation of the letters on the dreidl.

http://www.ou.org/chagim/chanukah/default.htm

http://www.schechter.edu/pubs/insight30.htm

I used these sites when I had to prepare a lesson plan about Chanukah. Maybe you can find something there.

What, no one's been here to accuse you of stealing this holiday from the Canaanites?

Soz--

Perhaps I'm out of line here, but I'd feel uncomfortable about adopting the showy bits of Jewish holiday for one week in the year and ignoring the ethics and practice of the Jewish faith for the other fifty one weeks.

Perhaps your candle-lighting would be deeper and more meaningful than my assumptions.

I know what you mean, and it's an interesting question.

One thing that is evident from ul's very informative links (thanks!) is that Hanukkah is minorly about religion and majorly about traditions, spending time with family as a thing in and of itself, etc.

I am not religiously Jewish but I am culturally very Jewish, and it's hard to know where some of these things stop and start. For example, reverence for education and learning (on an ongoing basis) are integral to both Jewish culture and religion. That's something we practice year-round. We kiss books if we happen to drop them (a practice I learned from my Jewish grandma) -- is that culture or religion? I dunno.

I'm more concerned with getting the religious details of Passover right, as it has a great deal more significance. (And we haven't attempted that.) Hanukkah is more like... hmm... Valentine's Day maybe. (Jes, Roberta? What would you say is the closest Christian equivalent?) It's fun, but it's not a huge deal religiously. Certainly not an actual equivalent to Christmas, though due to timing they're often cast as equivalents.

Me 'n' Veronica wish you all happy chanukah.

(OK not Valentine's Day, maybe Thanksgiving if it had a religious basis of some sort. I dunno!)

Back atcha Edgar. (Is there an actual Veronica or is that just a snazzy rhyme?)

Veronica is the name on some novelty song about it.

Maybe Purim, Soz. A nice holiday filled with lovely tradition, but not a high holiday. I could be wrong. Your education on such matters and mine are not that far removed from each other.

I can see the little top--and the betting with gelt, but the candles....

Life is complicated for ethical sophisticates.

I like kissing the dropped book. Revering knowledge should be universal.

It should.

I do get your reticence here. When I consult the ghost of my grandmother (metaphorically of course) she expresses delight that I'm exposing her culture to her great-grandchild, though she's annoyed she's not there to do it right.