Hanukkah 2012 Gift Guide

The High Holidays are over and Thanksgiving is around the corner. That can only mean one thing: MyJewishLearning has put together a guide of Jewish gifts for every member of your social circle. Here’s a handy tour through their staff’s top picks from their new Hanukkah Store, handily divided into categories.

Hanukkah 101

First things first: Menorahs! Whether you prefer ultramodern or ultra-traditional, the MJL Hanukkah Store has a menorah for you. Here are four of our top picks, in materials ranging from wood to copper to cement, from the beautiful blue one below to the handy travel menorah you can fold up and throw in your tote bag on your way out of town.

Hanukkah Accessories But menorahs are only the first step. What candles will you light? What dreidels will you spin? And why can you never find a kippah when you need one? We’ve got you covered. Here our four of our favorite Hanukkah accessories. We particularly love the gorgeous Safed candles, the Bezalel Art School dreidel, and how reasonably priced the kippot are. You can stock up for your whole family!

 For Children

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Behind the Scenes of My Daughter’s Baby Naming

Time flies! It’s hard to believe I have a 3-month-old baby and will be heading back to work after the Thanksgiving holiday (boo!). Since she wasn’t a boy, we weren’t rushed to have a bris, but I always knew I wanted a Baby Naming Ceremony. I have been to many ceremonies, usually just a small moment in a Shabbat service, and never really thought too much about it, until it was my baby.


We had the ceremony a few weeks ago and I have to say it was so incredibly meaningful and special, much more so then I had anticipated. Because of work schedules, we opted for a Friday night naming, and because it was just a regular service (not a Family Service or bar/bat mitzvah), the naming was the highlight of the night. Most of the people in attendance were there for Charly and she was the only child under 10 years old in attendance.

She sat, quiet and attentive, for the whole service, only crying after the closing song–like she knew God was watching or something! When it came time for the actually naming, my husband and I brought her to the Torah and the rabbi gave a nice little speech about her–about the person we hope she’ll grow into and whatnot. We also got a beautiful certificate that we’ll frame and hang in her room. Afterwards the baby received lovely gifts and participated in her first Oneg Shabbat. When we went home, we were full of food, love, and happiness–grateful to be part of such a loving family and wonderful community.

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Do You Love to Take Quizzes? For Prizes?"

Fun Quizzes brought to you by MyJewishLearning.com

Dear MJL Quiz Taker,



Jewish history is full of memorable quotes. Our new quiz gathers together some highlights to put your knowledge to the test. Find out if you know who's behind each of these famous lines! 

When you're done with that quiz, try some of our users' favorites: Thinkers and Thought, Jewish Soups, and Israeli History. And remember, each month we reward the person with the most correct answers from any of our quizzes with a $25 Amazon gift card, so take a look through all of our quizzes and start answering those questions today!

Sincerely,

The MyJewishLearning Team

PS--Congratulations to Julia for winning the Amazon.com gift card in October!

What is Hanukkah?

Hanukkah 2012 begins at sunset on Saturday, December 8, and ends at nightfall on Monday, December 17, when three stars are in the sky. When Hanukkah starts directly after Shabbat, as it does this year, first the havdalah ceremony is performed, and the havdalah candle is lit. Following this, the Hanukkah candles are lit.

What is Hanukkah?

Hanukkah is known as the Festival of Lights. As winter approaches and the nights grow longer, the lights of the Hanukkah menorah remind us that even in darkness, there is light. It commemorates the rededication of the Temple following its debasement and the restrictions on Jewish practice by Antiochus, the Syrian Greek king, and his overthrow by the Maccabees.

How do we celebrate Hanukkah?

Each night we light the hanukkiah, or menorah. On the first night we light one candle. Each subsequent night, we add one additional candle, through the eighth and final night.

Additionally, we play games such as dreidel. We sing festive Hanukkah songs.

But what about the food?

There are plenty of Hanukkah foods! Most are made with oil, commemorating the oil from the menorah in the Holy Temple. You can make several different varieties of latkes, including veggie latkes and cajun latkes. Other foods include sufganiyot, traditional jelly donuts, and bimuelos, Sephardic deep-fried pastry balls. Or make your own traditions, such as Hanukkah cupcakes!

An Icy Jerusalem

Cold weather is unusual in Jerusalem—but in March of last year a snowstorm briefly coated the city in white. It was Jerusalem’s first snow in 4 years, and Israelis from all over the country crowded the roads to the city so they could frolic in the winter weather. Later that month they had another opportunity to enjoy some icy entertainment, but this time, it was inside.

A team of Chinese ice sculptors was brought to the holy city to create "The City of Ice," a 1500-square-meter exhibit of ice carved into everything from giraffes and pandas to windmills and bridges. The show featured a fairy tale world, an ice bar, ice skating, and a miniature model of the city of Jerusalem, complete with all its famous attractions. Thousands of Jerusalemites crowded into the exhibit donning heavy coats and hats.

Producing the exhibit was hard work, and required bringing in translators and figuring out how to create, store, and transport the huge blocks of colored ice to the Old Train Station compound in Jerusalem. The project consumed more energy than the local soccer stadium, so it wasn’t exactly an environmentally-conservative endeavor. But, as this video shows, for a country that rarely sees snow at all, the results were jaw-dropping and truly memorable.

Don’t Call Me Mommy

I’ve wanted to write this vent for a long time, but felt like it would be a waste of time. Who cares, I told myself, about me objecting to getting called “Mommy” all the time–by people who aren’t my kid? I’m called “Mommy” constantly by random people who are looking for my attention as a parent–people like marketers, conference coordinators, headline writers, product developers, book authors, kids program creators, and bloggers.

PLEASE stop calling me “Mommy.”

Maybe my anger over being called “Mommy” by people I don’t parent strikes you as weird. If you know me personally, it might sound particularly odd coming from me–the same woman who tells my own boys, ages 7 and 8, that they can keep calling me “Mommy.” Apparently, the transition from “Mommy” to “Mom” happens organically somewhere around this age for boys. Somewhere in the depths of elementary school–whether in the boys’ rooms where kids don’t flush, or on the playground, or in carpools–they figure out that “Mom” is cool and “Mommy” is not.

While I realize that I’m going to have to go with the flow eventually, on a personal level, I’m resisting the transition to “Mom.” “Mom,” after all, is what is said before things like, “Can I borrow the car?” or “I’m dating this really cool person,” or “I’m at the police station.” I may be turning 40 next year, but I find that I’m just not ready to be “Mom” yet.

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Disney’s Anne Frank

A death-defying chase down an Amsterdam sewer. A theme song called “Living Free (Until the Nazis Find Us Again)” that’s just begging for an Academy Award. A nest of musical rats living in an attic who meet Anne Frank and her family and help them escape the Nazis…

These are just a few of the tropes of Disney’s Anne Frank, a production that never really existed. Lindsey Ellis, a blogger who operates under the moniker “Nostalgia Chick,” came up with the idea for the film, which she describes as “parodying the Disneyfication of real events (such as Pocahontas) and serious-toned stories (such as Hunchback of Notre Dame).”

Ellis didn't actually write the film, but she wrote an impeccably-detailed entry on the website TVTropes.com describing her proposed plot, including a Nazi sorceress, a dance routine titled “Life is Heil-arious,” and a “critically-panned” ending in which Anne single-handedly liberates Auschwitz.

In the real world, Walt Disney actually did produce anti-Nazi propaganda films during WWII. We wouldn't say that this (admittedly hilarious) teasing is warranted…but we won’t say it isn't.