Celebrating Hanukkah

I love the holiday season and everything it represents. Spending time with family and friends, eating way too much delicious food, getting vacation from work, and the festive atmosphere all combine to put a smile on my face. That being said, a lot of people ask me what it’s like being Jewish and the challenges associated with raising my Jewish family during the Christmas season. It’s an interesting question because like most people, I love Christmas even though my family and I don’t celebrate the actual Christmas holiday. I mean, who wouldn’t love the catchy music, the twinkling lights, and the abundance of cheesy Christmas movies in December?

My parents raised my brother and me to recognize that while Christmas is a religious holiday for Christians worldwide, we can still celebrate the spirit of Christmas in an nonreligious fashion. Certainly celebrating the spirit of love, togetherness, and charity is universal. So my brother and I did experience several Christmas traditions, such as sitting on Santa’s lap, viewing the elaborate downtown train displays, and seeing Christmas movies and plays. At the same time, we also experienced plenty of Hanukkah traditions like seeing the lighting of the menorahs at the Cincinnati Zoo’s Festival of Lights and in Fountain Square and attending Hanukkah parties at family and friends’ houses. My mother used to also come into our elementary school to read stories, decorate, and explain the significance of Hanukkah to our classmates.

Even for my Jewish friends who were not raised the same way as my brother and me, I feel confident that the majority of Jewish children do not feel deprived because of not celebrating Christmas. Instead we celebrate Hanukkah which commemorates the re-dedication of the sacred Second Temple in Jerusalem and the victory of the tiny Maccabean army over the Syrians. We decorate our houses with Hanukkah decorations and place light-up menorahs in windows. We eat traditional Hanukkah foods of latkes (potato pancakes), sufganiyah (jelly donuts), and gelt (chocolate candy). We tease our Christian friends that we have a whopping EIGHT nights of Hanukkah presents and celebrations versus just one day of Christmas presents. The only area in which I feel we are slightly gypped is the lack of Hanukkah-themed movies and songs, although we do have Adam Sandler’s hilarious Hanukkah Song.

I want to raise my children to respect the Christmas holiday while actually celebrating Hanukkah. We will bake and decorate Hanukkah cookies together. I will teach them the process of grating potatoes and onions to fry the perfect latke. We will use the shamush candle to light the menorah while singing the blessings. We will read Hanukkah stories and talk about its significance to the Jewish people before bedtime. We will spend our “Jewish Christmas” on December 25 eating at a Chinese restaurant and going to the movies with our Jewish family and friends. At the same time, I will take them to events like EnterTRAINment’s Christmas exhibition and Union Terminal’s train display. This way they can enjoy the best of both worlds and learn to appreciate other cultures and religions while still holding fast their own.

Cincy Resources for Hanukkah:

Books about Hanukkah for Children

• PJ Library:: A free service which sends children new Jewish-themed books once a month
• Blue Manatee Children’s Bookstore:: Located in Oakley
• Most major bookstores also sell Hanukkah books

Decorations:: Where to Find Them

• Any temple/synagogue gift shop (e.g., Wise Temple, on Ridge Road)
• Large chain stores (e.g., Bed Bath & Beyond, Pottery Barn, Target, Party City, etc.)
• Websites (e.g., Traditions Jewish Gifts)

Menorah Lightings

• Light Up the Night Grand Hanukkah Celebration – Tuesday, December 16 at 5:00 pm at Sycamore Plaza:: Click link for more information

Hanukkah Celebrations

• Hanukkah Celebration: Latke Vodka Bar – Wednesday, December 16 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm at the Jewish Community Center
• Absolut Hanukkah Party – Thursday, December 18 at 6:30 at Kenwood Towne Center’s Maggiano’s:: Free with advance RSVP
• Frozen Chanukah – Let it Glow! – Sunday, December 21 from 2:45 – 4:45 pm:: Click link for more information and to register

Cincinnati Moms Blog offers a special thank you to today’s guest blogger, Betsy Alpert.

Betsy’s Bio: As a native Cincinnatian, I will always have a very special place in my heart for my hometown. I live with my husband Andy (another native Cincinnatian), our daughter Natalie, our dog Sampras, and we are expecting our second daughter in April 2015. Even though I now work as a high school counselor in Atlanta, I still consider Cincinnati my home and always will. We visit our family and friends often and are raising our daughter to love and appreciate everything Cincinnati has to offer – King’s Island, Coney Island, the Cincinnati Zoo, Union Terminal, Skyline Chili, Graeter’s Ice Cream, and we look forward to taking her to her first Red’s game this summer.