Showing posts sorted by relevance for query hanukkah. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query hanukkah. Sort by date Show all posts

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Even Morning, Even Dusk

Thanks to my niece Chantel
for sending this sweet animated graphic!

One Candle Now, Then Seven More

I grew up in a family that did not tell
the story. I am listening to it now:

Even the morning you see a robin
flattened on the street, you hear

another in a tree, the notes
they’ve taught each other, bird

before bird before we were born.
And elsewhere, the rusty bicycle

carries the doctor all the way
across an island. He arrives in time.

Somewhere his sister adds water
to the soup until payday. And

over the final hill in a Southwestern
desert, a gas station appears. No,

the grief has not forgotten my name,
but this morning I tied

my shoelaces. Outside I can force
a wave at every face who might

need it. We might
spin till we collapse, but we still

have a hub: Even at dusk,
the sun isn’t going anywhere.

We have lamps. The story insists
it just looks like there’s only

enough oil to last one night.


by Brad Aaron Modlin

Thanks to my friend Beata
for this ethereal photograph!

See also:

"To the Astronaut Who Hopes
Life on Another Planet Will Be More Bearable
"

&

What You Missed That Day
You Were Absent from Fourth Grade


&

Everyone at This Party Has Two Names

&

All of my previous
Hanukkah Posts
Dusk

Monday, December 7, 2015

The Peacemaker's Time

6 year old Ben explains Hanukkah
#philadelphiapublicschools

Light one candle for the wisdom to know
when the peacemaker's time is at hand . . .

Advent Calendar

He will come like last leaf's fall.
One night when the November wind
has flayed the trees to the bone, and earth
wakes choking on the mould,
the soft shroud's folding.

He will come like frost.
One morning when the shrinking earth
opens on mist, to find itself
arrested in the net
of alien, sword-set beauty.

He will come like dark.
One evening when the bursting red
December sun draws up the sheet
and penny-masks its eye to yield
the star-snowed fields of sky.

He will come, will come,
will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.


Rowan Williams (b 1950)
104th Archbishop of Canterbury, 2002 - 2012


IV
Chorus from For The Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio


He is the Way.
Follow Him through the Land of Unlikeness;
You will see rare beasts, and have unique adventures.

He is the Truth.
Seek Him in the Kingdom of Anxiety;
You will come to a great city that has expected your return for years.

He is the Life.
Love Him in the World of the Flesh;
And at your marriage all its occasions shall dance for joy.


W. H. Auden / see also

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Latkes for Hanukkah


My cooking friends asked me to reveal the secret of my "pancakey . . . puffy" latkes, so here goes . . . it's a very easy secret:

End of the Weekend Leftovers

1. one scoop of mashed potatoes & one crumbled up piece of raisin / soda bread from Sunrise Diner

2. one half serving of fried breakfast potatoes & one half crumbled up breakfast biscuit from Town & Gown Bistro

3. mixed all together with 2 fresh raw eggs & fried in no - stick skillet with no - stick spray, served with applesauce and orange marmalade.

When I make them from scratch,
I use an old favorite recipe from
Paul Levy's
The Feast of Christmas: Origins, Traditions, and Recipes

******************

And Here's a Picture of a Menorah Cat

Monday, December 6, 2021

Light One Stovetop Burner

Light One Stovetop Burner
for the Maccabee Children!

Why were the latkes taking forever to brown? Why were those in the small skillet, over the smaller burner cooking faster than the big skillet, over the big burner? After much frustration and consternation, it dawned on us that the main burner was malfunctioning!

In hindsight, we could see that this also explained the lukewarm gravy at Thanksgiving and the barely simmering spiced / spiked cider on the stovetop. But those foods don't require high heat anyway, so it had been easy to disregard and then forget all about the irregularity. Not so with the latkes! Thanks to them, we realized that the oil in our lamp was fading! Our eyes were opened -- a miracle of Hanukkah!

Next, Gerry texted a stove repair person who messaged back that he was COVID-closed at least until January. Yet, free of charge, he left us a long helpful voicemail of things we could try. The first one fixed it! Light was restored! Another miracle!

We didn't need a new stove after all, or even a housecall -- just the repair instructions plus Gerry’s genius. As we say around our house, "It's not really lost unless Mom can't find it; and it's not really broken unless Dad can't fix it!

Saturday, December 1, 2018

Fixed the Newel Post

It's True: Our Outdoor Newel Posts
Seem to Require Constant Attention!

Last week it was Home for the Holidays, this week it's another family favorite -- Christmas Vacation (second assistant director Frank Capra III). If you're a Christmas movie fan, you may have noticed a movie within a movie moment: Rusty watching that older holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life (director Frank Capra). The jiggly newel post at the Griswold house is a humorous allusion to It’s a Wonderful Life, where the newel post at the Bailey’s house is also loose -- an intertextual pun.

Clark to the Rescue

Clark's antics never cease to entertain us, and we quote him repeatedly throughout the year, not just at Christmastime. The declaration, "Fixed the newel post!" frequently accompanies the accomplishment of any small household task. The list of quotable quotes is nearly as long as the movie itself:

"Little full, Lotta sap!"

"Merry Christmas. Kiss my ass. Kiss his ass.
Kiss your ass. Happy Hanukkah."

"Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat?
Drive you out to the middle of nowhere, leave you for dead?"

"Dad, you taught me everything I know about exterior illumination."

"This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here."

"I did it."


And so on . . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Channeling My Inner Clark

"Well, I'll be outside for the season."

Thursday, December 10, 2020

Songs for Hanukkah

~ Solid Brass Maccabee Menorah by Artist David Klass ~


Light One Candle

Light one candle for the Maccabee children
With 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 peacemaker's time is at hand

Don't let the light go out!
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our hope and our tears. (2)

Light one candle for the strength that we need
To never become our own foe
And light one candle for those who are suffering
Pain we learned so long ago
Light one candle for all we believe in
That anger not tear us apart
And light one candle to find us together
With peace as the song in our hearts

Don't let the light go out!
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our hope and our tears. (2)

What is the memory that's valued so highly
That we keep it alive in that flame?
What's the commitment to those who have died
That we cry out they've not died in vain?
We have come this far always believing
That justice would somehow prevail
This is the burden, this is the promise
This is why we will not fail!

Don't let the light go out!
Don't let the light go out!
Don't let the light go out!
 
 
1982 ~ Music and lyrics by Peter Yarrow 
of Peter, Paul and Mary

Also by David Klass

The Dreidel Song

I have a little dreidel. I made it out of clay.
And when it's dry and ready, then dreidel I shall play.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, then dreidel I shall play.

It has a lovely body, with legs so short and thin.
When it gets all tired, it drops and then I win!
Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, with leg so short and thin.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, it drops and then I win!

My dreidel's always playful. It loves to dance and spin.
A happy game of dreidel, come play now let's begin.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, it loves to dance and spin.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel. Come play now let's begin.

I have a little dreidel. I made it out of clay.
When it's dry and ready, dreidel I shall play.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made you out of clay.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, then dreidel I shall play.


1927 ~ English version by Samuel S. Grossman (lyrics)
and Samuel E. Goldfarb (music)

~ as I recall from my very first piano lesson book ~
~ way back in 1966, a gold star on the Dreidel Song! ~

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The First of Many Things

First Day of December, First Day of Hanukkah, First Snowfall
All in one beautiful winter's day!

The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder
I have long been curious about all of Gaarder's titles (e.g., Sophie's World) but this is the only one I've read so far. Gerry's mom placed it beside my bed when we went to England for Christmas 2002, so I read it to myself that year, and then the next year to Ben and Sam as a read-aloud for Advent 2003. The cover is brightly illustrated to resemble an Advent Calender, with miniature pictures of angels, castles, ships, sheep. Each chapter begins with a similar illustration, opening the door to another place and time. We followed along on a world map to track the fascinating progress of the characters, as each day they crossed another threshold, disappearing into world history. We learned so much on this intriguing journey and could hardly wait to see how the mystery would resolve itself on Christmas Eve.
See my book blog for more Holiday Favorites.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Light One Candle

"Light one candle
for the wisdom to know when the peacemaker's time is at hand."

~~ as sung by Peter, Paul & Mary ~~

As you can see from Ben's cut and paste Menorah project (1994), Hanukkah was a very popular holiday in the Philadelphia Public School System. Another year we carved a menorah onto the face of a nice wide pumpkin; I wish I had taken a picture of that!

Here is my beautiful Dancer's Menorah
antique brass by David Klass
. . . and a picture of last week's Turkey - o - Lantern