Hanukkah Greetings

Hanukkah Greetings, The commemoration of Hanukkah, which starting this year at sundown on Wed Dec 1 and continues until sunset on Thursday, December 9, is a time for the Jewish people around the world to reflect on events historical and miraculous of 23 centuries ago to mark the survival of the Jewish nation. To commemorate this important moment, and the many relationships celebrants are looking to recognize, American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) has a new selection of greetings to you please each sender and recipient.

The latest collection of L’Chayim to Life! Hanukkah card incorporates a conversational style and tone that fits perfectly with festive celebration. In addition to the heartfelt words, the cards are so beautiful drawing that represents the deep-rooted traditions of the feast of modern amenities. A fresh color palette enhances creative thinking of symbols like menorahs, candles, routers, and the Star of David to offer something that is both respectful and fun.

“Hanukkah is based on a rich history, and Jewish religious officials want to send a message of congratulations from their pride in this story of a joyful way,” said Pam Fink, editor of The Chayim to Life! Online at American Greetings. “To meet this need, our Hanukkah greetings that feature year, a wonderful mixture of beautiful images and warm feelings that gives consumers a variety of ways to recognize this important occasion and people in their lives that make it so special.”

Consumers can find the new The Chayim to Life! Hanukkah festival greetings to participate drugstore chains, grocery stores and mass retailers nationwide, as well as in American Greetings and Carlton Cards retail stores. For more information, including store locations in your area, please visit us at www.corporate.americangreetings.com. You can also follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com / amgreetings and Facebook www.facebook.com / AmericanGreetings.

About American Greetings Corporation

For over 100 years American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) has been a designer and manufacturer of innovative social expression products that help consumers improve their relations. Outline of the company greeting cards are American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson Greetings and Recycled Paper Papyrus, and other paper product offerings include DesignWare party goods, American Greetings and Plus Mark gift-wrap and cards boxed. American Greetings also has the largest collection of electronic greetings on the Web, including cards available at AmericanGreetings.com through AG Interactive, Inc. (online division of the Company). AG Interactive also offers digital photo sharing and personal publishing at PhotoWorks.com and Webshots.com, and provides a single source for online graphics and animations to Kiwee.com. In addition to its product lines, American Greetings creates and licenses popular character brands through the American Greetings Properties group. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings generates annual revenues of approximately $ 1.6 billion, and its products can be found in retail stores worldwide. For more company information, visit http://corporate.americangreetings.com.

Hanukkah Candle

Hanukkah Candle:The Jewish Festival of Lights, also known as Hanukkah, began at sundown Friday this year and continues for eight days.

The celebration has a special meaning for Lois Gerber, co-founder of Bradenton Preparatory Academy, which she started with her late husband, Dr. Murray Gerber, in 1975.

Gerber, who attended Christian churches early in life, converted to Judaism when she was 33, after 11 years of marriage to Gerber, who was Jewish from birth. Her daughters, Susan and Diane, had converted before her. But when she was ready, and not a moment before, she went into it full force, she said.

“Hanukkah exemplifies the fight of normal, everyday people to restore what was important,” Gerber said. “I hitch up to Hanukkah because I had been fighting all my life to find something important to me.”

Gerber is president of Temple Beth El, Bradenton’s first Jewish congregation.

Hanukkah is a time of year when Jews remember the small band of Jewish freedom fighters known as the Maccabees, who may have saved the Jewish religion, Gerber said.

In the 2nd Century BCE, the Maccabees pushed the Syrian invaders out of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and reversed its defiled state.

When the Jews dedicated the temple, there was little oil remaining to light the menorah, but it miraculously lasted eight days. Today’s Hanukkah celebration lasts eight days, with one candle being lighted each day to commemorate that miracle.

Hanukkah will be celebrated at many events in Manatee and Sarasota over the coming days.

Three congregations are hosting the lighting of Hanukkah candles to honor the Maccabees’ miracle.

Temple Beth El is lighting a large menorah in downtown Bradenton at 7 p.m. Sunday on the lawn in front of The Manatee Players theater at 102 Old Main St.

“We believe it could be the first ever downtown public Hanukkah lighting,” said Rabbi Harold Caminker of Temple Beth El.

Chabad of Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch is hosting its Sixth Annual Hanukkah on Main Street Celebration at 6 p.m. Thursday in Lakewood Ranch.

“The message of Hanukkah is to bring light into this world,” said Chabad of Bradenton Rabbi Mendy Bukiet. “It’s a universal message. It teaches us we all have to bring light. Even the smallest candles can bring great light. Each deed we do can make the world a better place.”

Congregation Ner Tamid will light hundreds of Hanukkah candles on dozens of members’ and friends’ menorahs at 6 p.m. Friday at 3817 40th Ave. W. in the Lakeside South Clubhouse.

“I was stationed in Germany with the Air Force and found it in a second-hand store,” Ner Tamid member Miriam Goolsby said of a menorah she will bring. “I’ve used it for years and every Hanukkah I think about the family that once owned it and wonder what became of them, if they died in the Holocaust. I light the candles in their honor.”

Festival of Lights

Festival of Lights,while we’re on the subject of greetings. . . Hanukkah begins in earnest today — Dec. 11 after sundown. The eight day Jewish festival of lights celebrates the Maccabees’ victory over the Syrians in the second century. The emphasis on light comes from a miracle that a small amount of oil lasted to light the temple for eight days.

It’s considered a fairly minor holiday in Judaism. But to raise its importance in his community Rabbi Harley Karz-Wagman, spiritual leader at Temple of Israel, in downtown Wilmington has started a new tradition.

He calls it the 8 Sites of Hanukkah, encouraging his members to visit one Web site each night of local, national or international nonprofit, learn about their vision and donate to those causes as an act of tzedakah or charity.

“Hanukkah calls us to God’s values, to assert our love, in control of our fears,” the rabbi wrote in his weekly column. “Hanukkah empowers us to redirect our lives.”

Rabbi Harley Karz-Wagman sent me his sermon for Hanukkah in an email. Here it is:

On Friday, December 11, just before sundown, Jewish families around the world will light the first Hanukah candle, chanting blessings over their Menorahs (candle holders) at home and in Temples. The next night, they will light two candles, and then add another candle each night, until they light eight on the eighth night. The nightly celebration features games, especially spinning the dreidel, songs, story-telling, and food, especially latkes (potato pancakes). The origins of these practices are described later. Kids, and even adults, receive gifts, and everyone gives to tzedakah (charity). Many families add acts of community service. Hanukah candle lighting is one of the most popular Jewish rituals, for American Jews.

Why is this celebration so popular? The “reason for this season” is not a Jewish version of Christmas. Rather, Hanukah celebrates: religious freedom and pride; the triumph of right over might; the recognition of God’s presence in our lives; and a family response to the start of winter. This article will tell the story of the Maccabees and describe how human and Divine actions led to today’s partying, with games and songs and food and gifts.

Hanukah (dozens of English spellings of “Chanukah” are acceptable) does overlap with Christmas in two aspects. Both are responses to December, a dark and cold season. By the way, if the Maccabees had not saved Judaism from perishing, about two centuries before the time of Jesus, then no Jewish community would have existed as the base, from which Christianity developed.

The Story: About 2,200 years ago, the Greek Empire was divided into Greek, Syrian, and Egyptian sections, with the Syrians controlling the Jewish state of Judea, the area now called Israel. The Syrian/Greek King, Antiochus, ordered the Jews to give up Judaism and become “Greek,” eating non-kosher foods, desecrating the holy Sabbath, and worshipping idols.

A small group of Jewish farmers, called the Maccabees, led a multi-year guerilla war against the Syrian/Greek forces, driving out a much larger army and gaining political and religious freedom, especially control of the central Temple, in Jerusalem. The dedication (“hanukah”) of the Temple triggered an annual celebration on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev, this year starting at sundown, December 11.

The human role: The military triumph of the small band of Maccabees has inspired fighters for religious freedom, and political freedom, over the centuries. A statue of Judah, the leader, stands at West Point today. The Maccabees became a model for modern Israel, assailed by much greater forces throughout its 60 year history. The Maccabees inspire all who seek religious freedom, an ongoing struggle throughout the world, even in America, for peoples and for individuals. The bravery, faith, persistence, and cleverness of these warriors are celebrated in the Hanukah song, “Mi Yemaleil” (“Who Can Retell”), which starts: “Who can retell the things that befell us (the Jews), who can count them? In every age, a hero or sage came to our aid.”

The Divine role: Where is God in this story? Many Jews understand the Maccabees’ triumph, as explained by the prophet, Ezekiel, “not by might, and not by power, but by (the Divine inner) spirit.” Power – whether military, economic, spiritual, or political – need not lead to evil. Yet, power tends to be abused. All power leads to some corruption. Ultimately, our freedom, as well as our success in finding meaning in life, depends upon our spirit, our power to control corruption.

The story of “the oil” shows how we can recognize God’s presence. When the Maccabees sought to dedicate the Temple in Jerusalem, they needed special oil to light the central lamp, which symbolizes God’s connection with our lives. Every Jewish synagogue, today, burns an “eternal light.” The Maccabees needed over a week to prepare this oil, yet could find only one day’s supply, after they drove out the Greeks. In what many see as a miracle, the tiny bit of oil lasted eight days.

We might learn that our own power for good is greater than first appears to us. If we start to work on a good cause, although our resources may feel inadequate, we find additional resources along the way. Some call this recognizing God’s presence in our lives and in our world. The Maccabees showed a similar faith, by starting their war for freedom, despite overwhelming forces against them.

Jews commemorate and publicize this “miracle,” by lighting the Hanukah Menorah (candle holder) for eight nights. Families play dreidel, a spinning top with four sides. Each side has a Hebrew letter, standing for a word in the phrase, “a great miracle happened there.” Israeli dreidels say: “a great miracle happened here.” The dreidel game involves gambling, with the spinner either adding to the pot or taking from the pot, depending on which letter lands on top. The pot is usually chocolate coins (“gelt”), but can be real money. If so, all the money goes to tzedakah (charity). Every Jewish holiday, even the weekly one, Shabbat (the Sabbath), is an occasion for helping the less fortunate.

The miracle of the oil also led to the culinary treat of latkes, potato pancakes, because they are cooked in oil. Latkes are usually eaten with applesauce, or sour cream. Latkes are the custom of most American Jews, whose families are Ashkenazic (European). Sephardic/ Mizrachi Jews (from Middle Eastern countries) eat a ritual food, cooked in oil, called “sufganiyot,” which look like jelly donuts, without holes.

A popular Hanukah song, “Maoz Tzur,” focuses on God’s central role in the Maccabean victory. The words are well known, mostly by the English title, “Rock of Ages.” The song concludes: “and Thy word broke their sword, when our own strength failed us.”

Hanukah today celebrates both the human and the Divine roles in the partnership between us. This partnership has a mission, which Jews call “tikkun olam,” “repairing the world,” in other words, transforming our world from how it is towards how it should be.

As we approach the darkest days of our year, as we begin the coldest season of the year, Jews observe Hanukah, a re-dedication to our partnership’s mission, a partnership with God, which is available to all peoples. We feel the warmth of the candles, see the brightness of freedom and insight, and hear the songs of faith, liberation, and peace.

A recent song, “Light One Candle,” by Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul, and Mary) captures the Hanukah spirit. The first verse is: “Light one candle for the Maccabee children. Give thanks that their light didn’t die. Light one candle for the pain they endured, when their right to exist was denied. Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice justice and freedom demand. Light one candle for the wisdom to know, when the peace maker’s time is at hand.”

Hanukah and our current Culture: From another perspective, the Maccabees’ dedication (the meaning of the word, “hanukah”) of the Temple in Jerusalem symbolizes their successful battle to assert the best of Jewish values in place of the worst of the dominant Greek (Hellenistic) values of their time. Miraculously, a leading faction of Jews (the Maccabees and their followers) persistently resisted the powerful, apparently overwhelming, Greek cultural trends, which many Jews choose to follow.

The Greek culture, whose domination the Maccabees rejected, forms the historical basis of our current Western/ American culture. Part of our culture brings wonders — calling us to technological innovation, artistic creation, philosophical inquiry, individual freedom, and economic enterprise. Certain American trends (based not on what we claim to believe, but on how we live) run counter to our Jewish tradition (and counter to the values of most Christians and other Americans). These societal trends include: (1) alienation (emotional isolation and loneliness); (2) material indulgence (not too subtle, each December); (3) a sense of emptiness (life feels meaningless); (4) isolationism (we care little about suffering by others, who are not “us”; and (5) despair (we are convinced that things will inevitably get worse). All of these result, when our fears override our love. The Maccabees symbolize resistance to those trends.

Hanukah calls us to dedicate our live to God’s values, to assert our love, in control of our fears. That would lead to these counter- trends: (1) community (we connect to each other, based on covenant, that is, our partnership, with God, to improve our world); (2) holiness (we live by Godly values, such as increasing freedom, justice/fairness, mercy, comfort, beauty, and peace, as well as create holy relationships, those based on respect, trust, responsibility, and commitment to higher missions, such as freedom, peace, etc.); (3) the infinite value of each human life (because we can achieve #1 and #2); (4) the holy potential for goodness of all individuals, no matter where they live and no matter what group (ethnic, faith, culture) they claim as theirs; and (5) hope, that despite the tragic lessons of history, reflecting the opposite of God’s values (see #2) history need not repeat. We can change.

When we resist the “Greek” trends and dedicate to God’s loving values, we become Maccabean, that is, heroic. We see many individuals, Jews and others, who perform these heroic tasks instinctively, without recognizing how heroic they are. They care for others. They search our Torah (not just the book, but our entire tradition and all sources of learning, including our own experiences) or other sources for a life of meaning. They battle injustice, suffering, abuse, and conflict. They fight globally, and locally.

We become heroic by recognizing the miracles in our world. The story of the oil lasting eight days was not told until centuries after the Maccabees (in the Talmud, under the Roman Empire). However long we take to notice miracles, when we do, we gain the power to act as heroes.

A miracle need not be understood as an event, which runs counter to the laws of nature. A miracle may be our ability to comprehend natural laws, bringing us the modern medicine and communication. A miracle may be our ability to save our global environment, despite centuries of greedy exploitation.

A miracle may be our ability to rise above our natural instincts, to transcend trends in our society (such as the 5 listed above) and to find a life of holiness.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel taught (50 years ago, at the dawn of the “information age”) that we do not lack information. We lack appreciation, the ability to notice what has true value.

Many Americans, “miraculously,” have begun pursuing new paths to spiritually fulfilling lives. The trend might be called “chanukat hamakom,” dedication to finding God in all places.

Our challenge is: will we join that trend, and become Maccabees?

The Season: Chanukah starts “early” some years, or one could say, “December comes late.” Chanukah always falls on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev, which occurs on or near the winter solstice, a time when the earth becomes a role model for us. Externally, nothing seems to grow, darkness lasts its longest hours, and the air starts feeling colder. Internally, however, trees and plants are adjusting, preparing for next year’s growth. The longest night means that the future holds more and more light. Cold need not depress us. Cold can stimulate.

The symbols of Chanukah respond to the season – the Menorah candles show brightness of religious freedom and insights, and the warmth of communal caring. The oil of our latkes and sufganiyot represents the oil of the eternal light, God’s presence in every place and every moment.

The winter solstice provides an apt moment to dedicate ourselves to our own internal growth, our own spiritual development, resisting the external appearances of a cold and dark world of isolation and materialism.

A Jewish myth envisions each person as a “candle of God.” By lighting and displaying the Menorah, we make public our recognition of our Divine inner light. Each night, we add a new candle, symbolically adding our light to the light of others, leading us to a more enlightened world.

Hannukah

Hannukah,In what is increasingly being seen as a holiday power play, Barack Obama’s Jewish dissenters and some in the Jewish media are using the upcoming Hanukkah holiday as a way to reassert their considerable influence on the President. Today Michelle Obama and Barack Obama will light the first candle and on December 16th they will hold a holiday celebration for 400. Whose to blame for the friction, that’s the hard part and one that many are trying to decipher.

There is danger of being misunderstood on both sides as an Obama White House seeks to dispel some of the rumors of his administrations unusually strong ties in the Jewish community, the Black caucus put an exclamation point on it last week  when they accused Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel of poor communication between themselves and the President. Is Emanuel watering down the message  the Black Caucus wants to convey to the President?

The other side of the coin is Israel. It is no secret that Barack Obama’s administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been on different pages recently and the ice has yet to thaw. Israel’s parliament has given preliminary approval to legislation that would require a national referendum on any peace deal that gives up control of east Jerusalem or the Golan Heights. If approved, the law could constrain a future Israeli government’s ability to turn over captured land as part of a peace arrangement.

This comes as Barack Obama is facing increased pressure from the U.N. over possible Israeli human rights violations. Investigators reporting to the United Nations Human Rights Council Monday enumerated a number of human rights violations committed by Israel during its Gaza incursion, including the specific targeting of occupied civilian homes and the use of children as human shields.

Is this Obama’s way of distancing himself?  The invitations with no mention of Hanukkah, the party down sized this year from 800 to 400.  Sounds to me like the message is clear.

President Obama is dealing with what every President must eventually deal with in the back of their mind. Thoughts of legacy and how they will be remembered creep into their thoughts from the moment they are sworn in. Barack Obama is his own man and it has taken some in the jewish community a little longer than others to realize that.

At the heart of the matter is the fact that the middle east in not really in the middle of things like it used to be. From a geopolitical stand point Isreal is not as sexy as it once was to the U.S. foreign policy play book, although still crucial to stability in the region, the U.S. focus has moved farther East to countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. With Afghanistan having the potential to be the buffer state of the future if they play their cards right, Israel’s days of getting no questions asked preferential treatment in the middle east may be over. It may be time for Israel to try harder to work with their Arab cousins in the region.

It’s going to be awhile before the Israeli government comes out of the ether they’ve been under during the past  2 U.S. administrations  and realize the geopolitical ramifications, the U.S. is stretched out on two war fronts. Anything more on the plate would be an instant political liability, no matter how close we are to the country. The European Union has not helped the middle east situation either.

Years of receiving the very best in U.S. weapons and technology have eroded the Israeli’s diplomatic skills. The Obama administrations relationship with Israel is very valuable, but it’s not for sale. Israeli extremists, the phrase has not caught on yet but it might.

Happy Hanukkah

Happy Hanukkah:I like Hanukkah. It’s a very nice holiday, as Jewish holidays go; one of the few where the Jews actually won, as opposed to having the Temple destroyed, or fleeing the divided sea, or being spared from the evil Haman. Usually, it’s enough if we survive. Often, we don’t even do that.

Jewish holidays are, as I learned growing up, very much about what you don’t get to eat — anything (Yom Kippur) or anything leavened (Passover) — and what you don’t get to do; about long services and endless sermons and not embarrassing your mother by being seen at the mall.

Hanukkah, by contrast, is not about death and dying. Start with that. You can go to the mall. You get presents. It’s not about sin. You can eat and drink. Better yet, the official food of Hanukkah is oil, which means eating fried foods is a form of celebration. Jelly doughnuts and fried potato pancakes are the two official foods of Hanukkah. How could you not like this holiday?

But it’s not Christmas. Hanukkah is what rabbis call a minor Jewish holiday, even if it’s celebrated as the Second Coming by a lot of folks I know. That’s my problem. Why do we feel we need to turn a little holiday into an alternative Christmas?

Believe me, I’m as much to blame for this as the next person. For years, I’ve patted myself on the back for not having a tree or a wreath or stockings or anything else that would suggest we are celebrating the birth of another religion’s savior. Christmas, I have taught my children and my parents taught me, is not “our” holiday. It is a religious holiday. We are not Christian, so we do not celebrate Christmas. How easy it sounds.

Some years ago, when I had a radio show, I interviewed a rabbi around this time of year, and his message was absolutely unequivocal: If you want your grandchildren to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the holiest days of the Jewish year, then you can’t have a Christmas tree for your kids. It only takes a generation to lose religious identity. Kids who grow up celebrating Christmas raise kids who don’t celebrate anything else. He had no doubt.

I couldn’t help but laugh. As a kid, I hated Christmas. I was so completely and totally jealous of my Christian friends who celebrated this magical holiday and exchanged big gifts that I would get depressed every Christmas season. I was even jealous of my Jewish friends who got trees and dreidels, Santa and Hanukkah. At my house, like the rabbis said, we had a “minor” holiday.

But it worked on me. On me, at least, the rabbi was right. I could never have a tree in my house. My kids would never even ask. We have dinner at our friend’s house, but we don’t “do” Christmas. How could we, when I’ve spent so many years overdoing Hanukkah?

Like many parents, I have bent over backward every year to try to make sure my children do not feel shortchanged at this time of year because they are Jewish. How absurd, as if not getting gifts is the biggest downside of this tribe. I am being funny, but just a little. While I’ve been congratulating myself for not doing the tree, I’ve done almost everything else.

Sorry, kids, but I think I’m finally figuring this one out. I wish my Christian friends a very, very merry Christmas. And to my Jewish readers, hey, happy little Hanukkah. It’s a little holiday, but it’s good enough.

To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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