Hanukkah Book Set To Become New Holiday Tradition

by Dan Veaner for the Lansing Star

When you think of Kickstarter campaigns you think of nifty high-tech gadgets attracting techie-boys who love their toys to help finance the next great thing. But two Lansing women are using it to launch something much gentler: a Hanukkah story and game called 'The Gelt Giving Golem'. The product will include a boxed illustrated book and a plush toy golem used to play a game over the eight days of Hanukkah.

"It's the story of a character that I created called the 'Hanukkah Golem', who gives a piece of gelt to little children each night of Hanukkah when he witnesses good behavior the day before," says author Carolyn Greenwald. "The purpose of the story is to allow Jewish children to participate in a tradition that's been very popular on Christmas, where there is an elf watching children's' behavior every day and then reporting back to Santa Claus."

Greenwald's idea is that parents will read the book as well as play the game with their children every year as they grow through ages two through nine. She and illustrator Suzy Hill are working with a plush toy manufacturer to produce a ten inch tall golem based on Hill's design that will come with the book. It will have velcro hands and feet so parents can pose him in varios positions each night where their kids will find him in the morning. Each day they find the golem, he has a piece of gelt for them -- if they were good the previous day.

In Jewish lore a golem is a live person made of clay who is bound to carry out the wishes of the person who made it and gave it life. Golems are typically strong and used for brute-force tasks, mindlessly following their master's wishes. Hanukkah gelt is also a Jewish tradition where a coin is given as a present to mark the eight day holiday. Today chocolate coins are particularly popular in Jewish homes. Unlike Christmas, Hanukkah is a minor holiday, generally considered by Jews to be a children's holiday. But very much like Christmas the holiday includes a rich heritage of songs, games, lore and tradition for kids.

"We don't have an elf in Judaism," Greenwald says. "We don't have magical creatures. But there is a strong tradition of the Golem being a Hanukkah character. there are a bunch of children's books about a golem and Hanukkah. In the oldest story the Prague Golem was created on the first night of Hanukkah. Our golem is a little different because he does have a mind. He acts on his own. So we took the golem and made him into something that would work for this book."

That presented a challenge for Hill. It was up to her to take a traditionally tough and colorless character and transform him into someone lovable, approachable, kind and friendly. She is currently working on creating the illustrations in watercolor and pen and ink for the 32 page story book.

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Ask A Rabbi: Are We Supposed to Give Presents on Every Night of Hanukkah?

By Rabbi Alison Adler, the rabbi at Temple B’nai Abraham, a Conservative synagogue in Beverly.

What are the rules on how we are supposed to give presents on Hanukkah? Every night or only on the eighth? Is this a Jewish tradition? If so, what’s Jewish about it?

When my mother was a kid, they celebrated Hanukkah the old-fashioned way: After lighting the candles, mom’s parents would give her some chocolate gelt, a dreidel and maybe a coin. And that was it. But in raising her own children, mom used to say—jokingly, I think—that we kids were entitled to one major Hanukkah gift each year…on Christmas Day!

Mom couldn’t stand the idea that all of our non-Jewish friends were about to receive magnificent windfalls of toys, while we got nothing. Indeed, she reasoned, it would be hard to imagine a better way to make a small child resentful of his or her Jewishness.

Therein lies the short answer to your question: The “tradition” of giving presents during Hanukkah was provoked by the long shadow that Christmas casts over Jewish homes. And nowhere is this shadow longer and darker than in America, where holiday gift-giving is a national obsession. Historians suggest that the consumerist side of the holiday began to develop in the mid-19th century, and it’s possible that Hanukkah gift-giving began about the same time.

Of course, like all things Jewish, the long answer is not so simple. For the tradition of giving gelt, or money, is apparently an older practice whose origins are unclear. An excellent article by Natasha Rosenstock on MyJewishLearning.com cites scholar Eliezer Segal, who has turned up sources mentioning that European Torah students used to give gelt to their teachers. Segal suggests that this practice was perhaps inspired by semantic and etymological connections between the Hebrew word “Hanukkah” (dedication) and the Hebrew word chinnukh (education).

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Eight Giving Rituals for Your Family: Making the Most of Thanksgivukkah

by Stefanie Zelkind for eJewishPhilanthropy

From menurkeys to sweet potato latke recipes, there are many creative ways to celebrate this year’s unique overlap of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving. In an effort to move beyond the kitsch, I would like to offer some additional ideas for blending the Hanukkah tradition of giving with the Thanksgiving ideal of gratitude. Here are eight suggestions (sorry, I couldn’t resist) of how to use Thanksgivukkah as a launch pad for learning, giving, and values-based family activities.

During Thanksgiving dinner, take a “gratitude break.” Ask everyone to take a moment to think about the best gift they have ever received (Was it a tangible gift? Was it an experience? What is a key lesson learned? Who gave it to you? What made it so special?) as well as the best gift they’ve ever given (To whom? Why did you give it?) Go around the table and share. You may just learn that your daughter’s favorite gift was that quiet morning you spent snuggling together on the couch, and not the iPod Touch you got her last Hanukkah.

Make the tzedakah box the centerpiece on the table, and invite guests to give – a quarter, a dollar, or more – to a collective tzedakah pool. Over dessert, ask each guest to suggest an organization or cause to support and give a 60-second pitch explaining why it’s important. Then, talk about the different issues raised, hold a straw vote, and come to a shared decision about which organization(s) you’ll support. Don’t focus on the amount of money (although you may be surprised at how generous people are); it’s about the discussion and the feeling of giving together as a family. Thanks to my own family for creating and modeling this Thanksgiving tradition.

Dedicate each night of Hanukkah to an organization that inspires you. After you light candles, share a bit about the organization’s work with your family. Visit the website together, read a brochure, describe an experience you had, then make a donation to support their efforts.

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What To Say To The Parent Of A Child With A Disability

Gabrielle Kaplan-Meyer for The Jewish Week

[Previously in The Jewish Week], I discussed three surefire ways to shut down a conversation with the parent of a child who has a disability. Of course, talking about disability can be one of the trickiest, most awkward-moment-producing topics around. Differences raise fear and anxiety for all of us and that limits the chances for meaningful dialogue. But I hope that with increased disability awareness education, like my post of yesterday and this one, we can create more productive conversations. Try any one or all of these three topics!

Tell me about how this experience has changed you/transformed your spirituality/view of the world:

Most of the parents I’ve meet who are raising a child with special needs have incredible stories to tell. Our perspectives on humanity, on caring for the most vulnerable, have opened us to deep understandings and maybe even some wisdom. For the last five years, I have met monthly with a spiritual direction group made up of other parents who have a child with some kind of difference. We sit together and listen to each other’s stories and share about the moments of struggle, joy and feeling God’s presence with us that have happened over the last month. Asking to hear about my story and listening deeply would be an incredible gift to me.

Tell me about what supports you might need and how I could help.

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