A blog about parenting, sports and life.
This post was written by my wife, T Turk.
While this Hanukkah was definitely different than Hanukkahs in the past, it was wonderful for our family to have had this time together. We fried latkes and donuts and decorated our apartment. We shared past memories and created new ones, gave presents to others and opened presents of our own and Zoomed each night with friends and family.
I know it’s an uncommon feeling but the year 2020 was a true miracle. Continue reading “Find Your Miracle of 2020”
The store always seemed to be crowded, even when it wasn’t, and that afternoon was no exception. I only needed a few things so I was finished with the actual shopping fairly quickly. I wove back between the shoppers, carts and strollers and took my place at the back of the checkout line which was, predictably, almost at the back of the store. The other tortoises and I moved forward, slowly but steadily, making sure to glance up from our phones frequently enough to make sure we hadn’t fallen behind.
I was about halfway to the registers when a particular “‘Tis the Season” display caught my eye. The rest of the store had been outfitted, just like most stores are at this time of year, with snowflakes, evergreen trees and red and white hats sporadically dotting the walls and aisles. But at that spot, hanging from the ceiling, were large cardboard dreidels, painted in a variety of colors not unlike the apples on the table below them. Just above each dreidel was a cutout of a coin, each one representing a different country’s currency.
I loved the dreidels.
I didn’t love the coins. Continue reading “Hanukkah Inclusion or Anti-Semitic Symbolism? Flip a Coin.”
“Daddy, look what I found!” E exclaimed.
I’d just walked into the apartment after teaching Hebrew school that morning. Our plans for a family Hanukkah party in the afternoon had been canceled since S woke up with a fever, but that didn’t stop E from discovering the towers of wrapped gifts that T and I had hidden under the table behind the couch. He ran over to the table as I came in and pointed excitedly at the various shapes that were no longer covered by the towel.
“Mommy told me you didn’t put the presents there but I don’t think I believe her. It was really you two, right?” he asked. Continue reading “Hanukkah Magic”
The principal of the religious school where I teach led an exercise on Tuesday evening.
It was the first night of Hanukkah. We had gathered all of the students together in the small chapel of the synagogue so that we could talk about the holiday and light the hanukkiah1 together. After a quick refresher for the students about the correct way to light the candles – shamash2 first, candle for the first night on the right side of the hanukkiah, light the newer candles before the older ones, etc. – we all sang the blessings together while one of the teachers lit the candles.
Then we turned off the lights. Continue reading “Strength and Beauty”
‘Twas the month before Hanukkah
The leaves had been turning
Though it should have been cold
The weather was burning.1
Thanksgiving had passed
Black Friday came and went
We avoided buyer’s remorse
Despite the money we spent.
But the music had started
(A bit later, to be fair)
The onslaught of Christmas
Could be felt in the air. Continue reading “A Hanukkah Poem”
I don’t remember my family hosting a lot of big parties when I was young. We had family parties here and there through the years and we hosted a couple of birthday parties for my brothers and for me, but we didn’t have many huge gatherings at our house. The biggest gathering I remember was for my brother’s brit milah1 just after he was born. When I was in middle and high school, my family joined with a group of other families from our synagogue and we started a rotation of holiday parties and other Jewish activities, but we only hosted a few of them. My wife’s family, on the other hand, went all out for everything. They would have between 20 and 30 people at their house for every holiday and would make enough food for twice that many.2 I’m not saying her family did holidays better than mine, just that we had different experiences growing up. And I like to think that now that we’re married and have started our own family, we’ve done a pretty good job of combining traditions from each of our experiences. Continue reading “Miracle of Miracles”
