jtnews | november 26, 2010 | hanukkah section

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Despite Hanukkah falling so early on the calendar this year — we’ll hardly have time to fit into our pants again after Thanksgiving — opportunities to cele-brate abound. Synagogues all over the state are having their own parties — you can find details at any synagogue’s Web site or at the online community calendar at calendar.jtnews.net — but here are a few that draw people in from near and far, and can help the less fortunate among us at the same time.

how to celebrate hanukkah this yearThe MAZON Hanukkah party: Feeding us to fight hunger

Pip and Miriam Meyerson have worked hard to throw this party for about six years now. There’s the procurement (how many pounds of potatoes do you need to make latkes for 200?), the menu planning, the cooking, the table setting, the buffet replenishing, and then the hoping: Hoping people will come, hoping people will eat, hoping the people won’t eat too much.

“It’s a really nice dinner,” says Pip, “It’s a great communal event, and with the candle lighting and the music, families gathering — it’s an evening of surprises.”

But most important is the hope that the people who come to this Hanukkah party and dinner, which benefits MAZON: A

Jewish Response to Hunger, will remember that though their food needs are being met for this evening, a lot of others’ — including many who at some point probably gave generously at a previous MAZON event — are not.

The Meyersons have been making traditional Jewish food in Seattle since the 1970s, first at the Matzoh Momma deli and now as a catering business. They have long been devoted to ensuring that the people without the means to feed themselves get fed. But it was in 2003 that they, along with Rabbi Jim Mirel and several other friends in Seattle’s Jewish community, decided to turn this into more of a Jewish event.

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Happy Hanukkah to all!LesLie KLein

This is Surrey Klein. She is 8 years old and lives in Ballard. With the help of her family — those members of her family with opposable thumbs — she put together and decorated the tzedakah box that came with the JTNews Tzedakah Book. Surrey says she’s pretty sure that kids would have a good time doing this as well, then filling up the box with coins to give to people in need this Hanukkah.

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If you go:

The MAZON Hanukkah Celebration takes place on Sun., Dec. 5 from 5:30–8:30 p.m. at Temple De Hirsch Sinai, 1520 E Union St., Seattle. No charge, but minimum $50 donation per person is requested. RSVP at [email protected].

“It’s difficult out there,” says Miriam. “We are so privileged here — I have to underline that — and I think people need to have that perspective.”

From that sentiment came the MAZON dinner. Matzoh Momma has always committed to donating the food — 100 pounds of potatoes, 40 pounds of onions, 50 pounds of salmon, plus so much more — and Rabbi Mirel’s Shalom Ensemble provides entertainment, Temple De Hirsch Sinai allows use of the space and the Meyersons rely on friends to do the table service. They have also received funding from members of the Jewish community such as Kenny and Marleen Alhadeff, among others.

Los Angeles-based MAZON gives money to food banks and food-related

organizations around the world, includ-ing several in this state such as Jewish Family Service of Greater Seattle and Food Lifeline, which distributes food and funds to several area food banks.

Pip says he appreciates “the idea that a Jewish communal organization like MAZON, that distributes its moneys to secular non-Jewish — probably predom-inantly secular organizations — at this particular time in our history. It’s very important that the greater community sees the support and outreach coming form the Jewish community to them.”

But it’s also a party, and the Meyersons hope that their night of a thousand latkes, as they call it, will bring out people and their families from all across the commu-nity, as it has done for so many years, to open their hearts and wallets in exchange for some great salmon and even better memories.

Come home for Hanukkah — to the JCCWhat is the first thing that pops into

your mind when you think about Hanuk-kah? For many, it’s the winter holiday’s central activity — the candle lighting. Hanukkah just doesn’t feel like Hanukkah if you’re not basking in the glow of those colored candles, which is exactly the feel-ing planners of this year’s community-wide family celebration hopes to recreate.

“We wanted the spiritual side of Hanuk-kah — with fun,” says Kim Greenhall,

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If you go:

“Coming Home for Hanukkah” takes place on Sun., Dec. 5 from 11 a.m.–2 p.m. at the Stroum Jewish Community Center, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. Free. Bring your hanukkiah and candles. For more information, visit bit.ly/ejZNVq.

If you go:

The Big Spin gets spun on Sun., Dec. 12 from 2–5 p.m. at the Museum of History and Industry, 2700 24th Ave. E, Seattle. Cost of $48/adult, $36/kid age 1 and up includes concert, activities, and a goodie bag. Visit thebigspin.org to purchase tickets online.

director of community services at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, one of the co-planners of “Coming Home for Hanukkah,” to be held at the Stroum Jewish Community Center on Mercer Island.

There will be several activities, mostly geared toward kids, at this daytime event that includes a production of Mrs. Green-

berg’s Messy Hanukkah, a current selection from the PJ Library Jewish books program, by the teens in the JCC’s CenterStage the-ater troupe; a mitzvah project activity room that will allow anyone to help bag dry goods for the Jewish Family Service food bank; and, of course, dreidel.

It wouldn’t be a Jewish event without food — and even that will be a commu-nity project. J Team, the group of teens that spends a year learning about charities both local and worldwide, then divides up a pot of money to donate to these organi-zations, will be selling the goodies to raise funds to increase their pool of funds. In addition, the Rainier BBYO chapter will be selling jelly doughnuts, a traditional Israeli Hanukkah treat.

It’s an opportunity to “engage teens to really do good in the world — the spiritual side of doing good, and not just ‘Let’s have a party,’” Greenhall says.

The event will culminate in the gym, with the lights turned low, as families will get together for a sing-a-long and then a candle lighting of more than 100 meno-rahs around the room. Many hanukkiot will be on hand, but families are invited to bring their own so they can recreate the coziness of the holiday and bask in its glow with the other families around them.

“It should be amazing,” Greenhall said.

Spinning, spinning, spinning: The Big SpinWhen the women who founded the

Mitzvah Mama Guild for Seattle Chil-dren’s Hospital held their first Big Spin event last year, they raised $12,000 to take a bite out of the more than $96 million in uncompensated care the hospital provided in 2009. That number is already expected to be much higher for 2010 — as much as $150 million.

Realizing that though their contribu-tion so far has been small, it still makes a big difference, this year they’re doing it even bigger. They’ve still got the fun stuff — the face painting, the candy menorah

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NEW YORK (JTA) — Hanukkah is the holiday that celebrates Jewish distinctiveness over assimilation. The Maccabees — zealots to some, freedom fighters to others — fought to preserve a sense of Jewish distinctiveness in the face of the Assyrian Greeks and other Jews who were attracted to their ways.

So to really celebrate Hanukkah this year, let’s ask ourselves: What makes us Jews distinct? How can we celebrate our distinctiveness in ways that strengthen our own identities and the Jewish identity of our families? How can we bring the best of what Judaism has to offer to our commu-nities and to the larger society?

The concept of tzedakah is one of Juda-ism’s great contributions to the world — Ethical Monotheism, the Ten Com-mandments, and the concept of Shabbat rank way up there, too. Jewish tradition posits giving tzedakah as an obligation (according to Maimonides, 20 percent of your income is average, with 10 percent as the minimum) and holds that this obli-gation rests on everybody, not just the well-off (the Shulchan Aruch states that “even one who is supported by tzedakah is required to give from what he has been given”). This offers a paradigm for a just and supportive society that holds rampant consumerism in check.

So I propose that this Hanukkah,

instead of pouring our creative energies into giving material gifts, we use that cre-ativity to dedicate each night and each candle to a different aspect of giving.

Candle 1: Have an intimate dinner with family and friends. Learn about the issues of most concern to them, then set aside the money you would spend on a material gift to make a contribution to that organization or cause in their honor.

Candle 2: Follow up on the first night’s activity and, if the cause is local, arrange to go on a site visit to learn more about the organization’s work and how you can get involved. This activity is especially good for parents with young children.

Candle 3: Be on the lookout for charity events in your area. Dedicate yourself to expanding your horizons on issues in the world in need of addressing.

Candle 4: Think about someone in your life in immediate need. Bring them Hanukkah-themed treats such as cook-ies in the shape of dreidels or homemade Hanukkah cards.

Candle 5: Get your charitable giving in order. If eight nights of eating latkes and jelly donuts becomes too much for you, take the night off and plan ahead for the coming fiscal year. Make a plan.

Candle 6: Give more than your money and time — give of your values. Think

A twist on Hanukkah givingDasee Berkowitz JTA World news service

building, goodies, the big dreidel where everyone wins a prize that’s actually valu-able — but this year will have much more of a focus on the music.

Co-founder Laura Glass has brought in three nationally recognized local bands in the “kindie” music scene, all of whom are donating their services to the cause: Caspar Babypants, a.k.a. Chris Ballew, a.k.a. the guy from the Presidents of the United States of America who per-formed last year; Recess Monkey, three local teachers that have “a firsthand level of understanding and an intuitive nature of what kids respond to,” Glass says, and a fixture at so many community celebra-tions; and the Not-Its!, a band that dresses up in ’80s-style and other retro garb and really appeals to the “tween” population.

“It’s nice having these band there, straddling the childhood experience, and to have them under one roof,” Glass says, in particular because they all are “doing

this for the love of Children’s. It’s really flattering and humbling.”

The three women who came up with Mitzvah Mama — Seattle Children’s first specifically Jewish guild — plus a fourth who joined them this year all have chil-dren who spent time at the hospital. They wanted to do something to acknowledge their gratitude for what the hospital’s doc-tors and staff had done for their families, but on behalf of the Jewish community.

“Once we found out there wasn’t a Jewish guild…we immediately wanted to do something about it,” Glass says.

And from that, the 2009 Big Spin was born. For 2010, they have had much more time to plan and bring in sponsors. They have also more than doubled their goal — to $25,000 — and they are confident they can do it.

“We’re excited to be doing something that’s a little different, a little off the beaten track, [but] also celebrates the commu-nity,” Glass says. “It really brings this com-munity together.”

about a value that is important to you that you haven’t had time to develop (does the refrain “too busy” ring a bell?) and do an activity that reflects that value with a spouse, child or friend.

Candle 7: Think about someone else in your life who is too busy to think about holiday presents. Give him or her a break. For a busy parent, this could mean pro-

viding childcare; for a busy professional, it could be giving your time as a coach.

Candle 8: Have a Hanukkah party and ask each of your guests to bring a gift to pass onto a local charity — a nonperishable food, a children’s toy, books or clothing.

Dasee Berkowitz is a Jewish life-cycle consultant in New York.

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In the tradition of eating as much deli-cious kosher treats as we can so you don’t have to, we welcome you to our annual Hanukkah kosher food tasting. As we do every year, we had the pleasure of trying out delicious kosher foods that can either be served at your gatherings or given as gifts. This year, we got our eats from PCC and, in a stroke of cheap genius, Grocery Outlet, which has aisles and aisles of high-end kosher packaged foods for far less than you’d spend anywhere else — plus some bonus items sent our way straight from the source.

In the great tradition of noshing, we opted against fully formed main courses and went for a slew of snacks instead. There were crackers and cheeses and chips galore; piles of cookies and truffles and chocolates; and of course, beverages — after all, what’s a feast without a glass of beer or wine, or even gourmet soda?

Bringing great eating and gift ideas to you for the holiday

worDs By eric NusBaum PhoTos by JoeL MAgALnicK

We’ll start with appetizers: Fellow taster Stacy and I had a great time mixing and matching dif-ferent cheeses, espe-cially the Redwood Chevre (PCC, $5.69) and Mozzarella Fres-ca’s bite-sized fresh mozzarella (Grocery Outlet, $2.99) with Eden’s organic cherry butter (PCC, $8.49). “Delish,” said Stacy of the combo.

If you want to keep your noshes centered on the Mediterra-nean region, why not start with some subtle rosemary croccan-tini from local bakery La Panzanella (PCC, 4.99)? “The best for dips,” according to Susan. “They really allow for the flavors to come through.”

Build from there with the aforemen-tioned cheeses, or drop on a few of Mama Lil’s Peppers (PCC, 7.49). The peppers are spicy and marinated — the result of an old Hungarian-Jewish recipe — and go great with cheese and crackers. Top things off with a drizzle of Olivos Organic

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Grocery Outlet, $5.99). Olivos was an overwhelming favorite for its cost, its flavor (“sweet, smooth, delicious!” according to Joel), and its packaging, which Karen called “show-stopping.”

But if that’s too much work, other more easily dip-able kosher options a b o u n d . I n t h e hummus depart-m e n t , e v e r y o n e agreed that Sabra provides the best options (Grocery Outlet, $2.99). Their spinach and arti-choke was praised for its “good flavor” and “nice texture,” while the Supremely Spicy variety lived up to its name (beware

of the peppers) while remaining “smooth and tasty.”

Not every item was a consensus success. For example, I found the Naturally Wild Smoked Salmon (Grocery Outlet, $4.99) delicious, bursting with salmon taste, and Janna found it “smoky and very flavorful,”

but to Stacy it was “too fishy.” All Joel had to say of it was, “Ick.” Joel and Stacy preferred the mellower smoked sockeye (PCC, $6.99), but this writer/taster found it lacking kick.

If kick is not your preference, but sub-tlety is, I highly recommend Dry Soda Co.’s Vanilla Bean soda (PCC, $5.75 for 4). The soda was described as “elegant,” “light,” “refreshing,” and “effervescent.” One anonymous taster even suggested it would make for a great cocktail ingredient.

There were, alas, no spirits within reach at the JTNews office — but we did try some beer and wine. First off was the He’Brew Jewbelation Fourteen, a dark, strong, and symmetrical beer: 14 hops, 14 malts, and 14 percent alcohol (Available at Whole Foods, Bottleworks in Seattle’s Walling-ford neighborhood, and Central Market). I won’t say we were rolling after sharing a 22-ounce bottle of the stuff, but I will gladly admit that for some of us an afternoon cup of coffee was immensely necessary. That said, this beer could have replaced the coffee to go with some of the sweets we ate (see the Cougar Mountain Cookies).

We also uncorked a bottle of Teal Lake Shiraz (PCC, $14.50)


— a wine that was roundly enjoyed as spicy, smooth, and flavorful but drink-able.

“I’ve had this before,” said Karen, “and I didn’t even know it was kosher.”

And then we came to dessert. Our dessert table was, if anything, chocolate-filled (perhaps this was a reflection on the JTNews official shoppers, above all else). We learned that good things come small and large, simple and elaborate packages.

For a small, elegantly packaged treat, you can’t go wrong with one of Jo’s Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Grahams (PCC, $1.50).

These treats were praised as delicate and “not overly sweet” by one taster. In my book, they were the per-fect combi-nation of sweet and s a l t y — and the graham cracker provided just the right amount

of crunch. But what if you

want something a bit more lavish...and a bit more seasonal? If that’s the case, then we suggest Pepper-mint Place’s Pepper-mint Truffles (Grocery Outlet, $2.49). Susan says praised their mint-iness and called them “refreshing.” Stacy centered on their gift-giving potential: “Such great packag-ing for the holidays!” she said.

My favorite combination of familiar holiday packaging and creative new taste came from the Ferrara Pan Choc-olate’s Toffee Crunch Orange Choco-late Ball (Grocery Outlet, $1.50). At first glance, it looked like a regular spherical chocolate orange, but bite in and discover something far better. “A great crunch,” said Joel. And great to share too — just break open and serve.

For a cozy winter night, however, per-haps something a bit more familiar should be in order. On those nights, there’s always Cougar Mountain Cookies (PCC, $3.99). Cougar Mountain is a local favorite, and their flavor of the month, Double Chocolate XXXX Stout, would go great by the fireplace — “they melt in your mouth,” Karen said. And go great with He’Brew Jewbelation!

Going chocolate-free for a moment, note the box of fruit candy

from Liberty Orchards, the folks who bring you our state’s official candy, Aplets & Cotlets. You can’t go wrong with a classic. Or as Becky said, “always a great gift.”

And speaking of clas-sics, the natural rival for the title of state candy, Almond Roca from Brown & Haley in Tacoma, was just cited in the Seattle

P-I’s Big Blog as one of the biggest hits in Chinese exports. Well, we’ve gone even bigger. The good folks at B&H know when they have a good thing, and even better, they know when that

good thing should be doubled, then tri-pled. That’s the idea behind their “clas-sics,” which clock in at double the size of your standard foil-wrapped Almond Roca and with the triple the types of nuts: Almonds, hazelnuts and cashews on a bed of chocolate over a chunk of toffee. But more than anything, they were quadruple the deliciousness. B’teyavon!

Finding the aahs and oys of Jewish toys

eDmoN roDmaN JTA World news service

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Want to increase your odds for Hanukkah fun?

A new market of holiday offerings is featuring Jewish toys that flash, spin and challenge — including “No Limit Texas Dreidel,” a poker version of the classic top game.

With new Jewish designs from niche and mainstream manufacturers, finding something your kids will want won’t be a stretch. Or if it is, at least it’ll be a wear-able one.

“We expect Hanukkah silly bands to sell a ton,” says Laurie Glusman, founder of the OyToys cyber store, of the Hanuk-kah-themed variation on the fad elas-tic wristbands being worn by American schoolchildren.

The bands, which feature shapes like the outline of a menorah, Maccabee or dreidel, come in packs of 18 and sell for $3.99.

“My three kids come home from school wearing the regular ones,” says Glusman, who runs her 6-year-old business out of Atlanta. “It’s great they now have Jewish ones to trade and wear.”

The bands are part of an inventory of children’s toys, games, puzzles and craft sets with a Jewish theme that Glusman says has been growing since OyToys.com has been in business.

Among the new offerings, the oldest Hanukkah toy, the dreidel, is still a “huge seller,” she says. “No Limit Texas Dreidel” is a distant cousin of the earliest humble versions that were made out of lead.

The Texas version combines the dreidel

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Enter to win one of four $50 gift cards to

either Grocery Outlet or PCC, the very markets whose Kosher products are

reviewed in this Hanukkah Kosher article.To enter, e-mail [email protected]. The subject line must read HANUKKAH KOSHER. Please include a

digital picture of yourself suitable for publishing, along with your name and city of residence. Four winners will be drawn at random, and the gift cards they win will be non negotiable. Winners will be announced

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Visit www.jtnews.net to download a copy of the 2010 Tzedakah Book, filled with inspiring giving profiles that will help you and your family celebrate the joy of tzedakah.Print one out at home, or call 206-441-4553 if you would like us to send you a printed copy.

the tzedakah bookbecause giving feels goodInsIde: Choose your night and let it shine! Bring the whole family together one night of Hanukkah to explore the joy of tzedakah, using this step-by-step guide.

TOP:

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Everyone can enter the Tiny Tzedakah Box contest! Every entry will be featured online at www.jtnews.net, and three winners will appear in the December 10 edition of JTNews, the voice of Jewish Washington. 1 Cut out the Tiny Tzedakah Box template on this page. Trace around it on card stock to make your own box form. 2. Cut out the form.3. Cut out the coin slot.4. Fold at all dashed lines.5. Tape or glue tabs on the inside of the box.6. Decorate!

How should you decorate a Tiny Tzedakah Box? Family pictures, markers, stickers, paint, glitter, beads, ribbon, collage, found objects … you name it. Once you’ve decorated your Tiny Tzedakah Box, send in a photo of yourself holding it, and at least one close-up picture of the Box. E-mail the pictures with your name, age, and home town no later than December 1, 2010 to [email protected].

Here’s how

Tiny Tzedakah Box SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — It was December 1982, and my kibbutz ulpan had just been invited to light the Hanukkah menorah for the Israeli Knesset.

The Israeli army was deep in the heart of Lebanon, the Cold War was raging, talks with the PLO were years away, and Israel was feeling both isolated and feisty. Freedom from oppression was the theme for that year’s holiday, and my six-month work-study Hebrew immersion pro-gram had been chosen for this annual honor because we had so many students from countries where Jews were being oppressed.

There was 18-year-old Ahuva, from Aleppo, whose jaw had been broken by Syrian border guards when she was caught during her first escape attempt. She made it out the second time — on foot.

There was 19-year-old Daoud, now David, and his twin brother, Ofer, who grew up Muslim in Beirut and had only learned that summer they were Jewish, when their Israeli-born mother revealed her heritage, divorced her Lebanese hus-band and dragged the twins to Israel as its army poured across their border.

We had the three French boys in the class: Charlie from Morocco, Michel rep-resenting Tunisia, and Didier, whose par-ents were Algerian.

There was a student from Iran who fled after the fall of the shah three years earlier. Another student claimed Egyptian ances-try — good enough for the Knesset — and one young man from Glasgow also would light a candle, presumably in the name of Scottish independence.

I might argue that the student from Paris who refused in class to use the Hebrew word “olah,” or “ascend,” to describe her move to Israel, on the grounds that any departure from Paris could only be a descent, also was living under oppres-sion. She just didn’t know it.

The only thing we were missing was a student from the Soviet Union. The Iron Curtain had shut tight in 1980, few new immigrants were arriving, and we were some years away from the great exodus of the early 1990s — not a single Boris or Natasha to add to the mix.

Then I let slip that I spoke Russian. And my grandparents were from Ukraine — sure, they arrived in 1906 and 1912, but our ulpan teacher was eager to seize upon any connection, however tangential, to clinch that Knesset deal.

She renamed me Sonia Pitchkopf and instructed me to prepare a short speech to deliver, in Russian-accented Hebrew, as I lit my candle.

After the laughter died down in class, I realized the enormity of what I had signed

At the Knesset, a candle for the Russian Jewssue FishkoFF JTA World news service

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To our dear friends

Michael, Evelyn & Aviad Benzikry

Tamar Benzikry Stern & Ronnie Stern

Hanukkah Greetings!

Hanukkah Greetings!Doug & Marcia Wiviott

David Wiviott & Christin Denning-Wiviott

Stephanie, Tony & Tori Harris Rainier Overseas Movers

Happy Hanukkah!

Peter & Peggy Horvitz

Al Sanft Brina & Louie

Mark & Nettie Cohodas Samantha & Ben

Richard & Barrie Galanti Sam, Oliver & Rachel Ada

SANFT FAMILY

Happy Hanukkah!

Bob & Becky Zimmerman

Michael, Beth, Bauer & Grant Zimmerman

Esther, Rabbi Yossi, Yehudah, Yonah Mordechai, Razi & Moshe David Malka

Sharon Zimmerman & David Tutton

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on for. This was no Purimspiel. This was the Parliament of the Jewish State, and here I was, tasked with pulling a fast one over on men and women, some of whom certainly spoke Russian, or at least were capable of sniffing out a ruse of this magnitude.

As I began writing my speech, I thought back to my first trip to the USSR. My Russian class from Cornell landed in Leningrad on Dec. 31, 1975, and as so often happened with Jewish visitors from the West in those years, I found myself in a Jewish apartment within hours of my arrival, plucked out of the crowd by a

young Jewish member of the Komsomol group sent to greet us.

The table was spread with a lavish repast — mushrooms in cream sauce, pickled vegetables, carrot salad, all kinds of smoked fish. I learned later how long the family had scrimped to put together that holiday meal.

People crowded around me, eager to ask questions about America. Was there really so much street crime? What did people think of the pullout from Viet-nam? Had I ever been to Israel? I had stars in my eyes, so excited was I to be in the for-bidden land of Cossacks and Bolsheviks, the center of such rapt attention.

Then two young men dragged out a book and thrust it into my lap. It was an English-language edition of the Encyclo-pedia Judaica they had opened to the page on Hanukkah. One of them pointed to a drawing of the nine-branched hanukkiah and asked me to explain its use.

Thinking he was joking, I smiled. These were university-educated people. This was the 20th century. He had to be pull-ing my leg.

He wasn’t. And I’ll always remember my shock and sadness as I realized it.

So here I was, on my Israeli kibbutz, purporting to masquerade as people whose pain and isolation were so very

real? I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t.My ulpan lit the Hanukkah candles

that year on the floor of the Knesset build-ing in Jerusalem. And when my turn came, I was Sue Fishkoff, not Sonia Pitchkopf. And I lit in the name of my own grand-parents, free in America, and in the name of the five young men I had met that night in Leningrad.

Two of them already were living in New Jersey. The others were still in Len-ingrad, now St. Petersburg, as late as 1996, the last time I visited them.

And my ulpan friends called me Pitch-kopf for the rest of the year.

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game with poker, offering kids 9 and older the opportunity to “check, bet, raise or fold depending on the strength of your dreidel hand or how much you like to bluff,” according to the online catalog.

Other updated dreidels include a pair of Dueling Bouncing Light Up Dreidels, as well as a Techno Dreidel with Light and Sound.

Jewish toys are a niche product cat-egory that has long been dominated by small, sometimes traditionally oriented companies like JET, Jewish Educational Toys of Chicago.

JET produces board games with hala-chically wholesome content and imagery

that until recently usually sold in Jewish bookstores an aisle or two away from the prayer books.

Now you can buy one of its popular games, Kosherland, which is inspired by Candyland, at Moderntribe.com. Even Urban Out-fitters had it a few years ago.

JET, also draw-ing from the shelf of popular American word games, pro-duces Jewish and Junior Jewish editions of Apples to Apples,

that “game of hilarious comparisons.” Until recently these companies have

had little com-p e t i t i o n f r o m larger American toy companies. But since 2004, the year Glusman opened her busi-ness, “The number of products have increased dramat-ically,” she said.

Looney Labs, publisher of Fluxx, the card game “of e v e r - c h a n g i n g

rules” has entered the Jewish market with

an expansion pack with “Jewish themes of the Torah and Shabbat.” Included is a “New Rule” card with a “Judaic bonus”: “If you’re wearing a Magen David or a Chai, you may play an extra card on your turn.”

Perhaps the most famous dive into the Jewish toy box was in 2009 when Amer-ican Girl, which is owned by Mattel, debuted the Russian-Jewish girl doll Rebecca Rubin.

The doll continues to attract seasonal attention with the addition of a Hanuk-kah-themed outfit, a purple jacquard-striped dress with white stockings and shoes, and an accessory set that comes with a menorah, candles, dreidel and gelt.Hanukkah Silly Bands

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NEW YORK (JTA) — In 165 BCE, a group of warriors led by Judah Maccabee and his band of brothers ushered in a new era in Jewish history when they routed the soldiers of the Greek-Syrian empire and rededicated the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

That victory, and the miracle of the menorah that followed, is celebrated every year by Jews around the world at Hanukkah.

But if the same thing had happened today, would contemporary Jews hail the Maccabees as heroes?

The place in Jewish history of the Mac-cabees — a nickname for the first mem-bers of the Hasmonean dynasty that ruled an autonomous Jewish kingdom — is much more complex than their popular image might suggest.

“Historically it was much more com-plicated, as there were Jews on both sides,” Jeffrey Rubenstein, professor of Talmud and rabbinics at New York University, said of the Maccabee uprising. “Nowa-days, historians look at the conflict more in terms of a civil war than a revolt.”

The holiday’s tradition obscures some of the history of the conflict.

At different periods of history, the Mac-cabees and their descendants have been reviled by their fellow Jews, not revered. The Pharisees, whose teachings became

the tenets of traditional Judaism, consid-ered them to be usurpers. To the Essenes, a mysterious sect of Judaism believed to have thrived on the Western shores of the Dead Sea, they were wicked.

“My guess is that most liberal Jews today wouldn’t necessarily get along with the Maccabees if they showed up again,” said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the rabbi in resi-dence at Jewish Funds for Justice.

“Even those of us who are regularly active in Jewish life may find it hard to identify with Matityahu, the leader of the Jewish revolt, whom the first Book of Mac-cabees depicts as killing a Jew who sacri-fices to a pagan god,” she wrote in an essay about the meaning of Hanukkah.

Jacobs argues that Jews should be aware of the complicated history, though they do not have to be bound by it.

“In redefining Hanukkah, each gen-eration considers anew the questions of assimilation and ethnic identity, the ten-sion between Judaism as a religion and the Jewish people as a nation,” she wrote.

Many Jews in ancient times also had their reservations regarding the exploits of Judah Maccabee and his brothers.

In the first centuries of the common era, the Jewish sages of Mesopotamia sought to minimize the Maccabees’ significance in the Hanukkah story. These scholars of the

Babylonian Talmud focused instead on the miracle of the menorah oil, emphasiz-ing the divine element of the story over the military victory of the Maccabees.

Richard Kalmin, chairman of rabbinic literature at the Jewish Theological Semi-nary, says the rabbis’ irreverent treatment of the Hasmoneans was based on the con-cerns of their era.

“The rabbis were competing with a class of wealthy local Jews over influence,” Kalmin said. “The stories of the Hasmoneans por-trayed them as aristocrats, therefore entitled to be in a position of respect.

“However, the rabbis of Babylonia thought studying the Torah was more important. One of the ways in which they fought for their values was to engage in propaganda portraying the progenitors of the Hasmoneans as not coming across too well.”

Largely as a result of this, the festival of lights for centuries focused on the miracle of the oil. Then, in the late 19th century, the Zionist movement revived the cult of the Maccabees. The story of Hanukkah, which evokes images of warrior Jews fight-ing for independence, mirrored their own ambitions, and many early Zionists con-sidered the holiday more important than Sukkot or Rosh Hashanah.

“The early Zionists could use the Mac-

cabees as an example of Jews who took matters into their own hands, as opposed to the shtetl Jews,” Jacobs said.

Stories like that of Elazar, the youngest son of Matityahu, who was martyred in a suicide mission to kill a Greek-Syrian gen-eral, grew in popularity.

Not coincidentally, Elazar is now the name of a West Bank settlement named in honor of the young Maccabee.

Rabbi Jacob Schacter, senior scholar at Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future, suspects attitudes toward the Mac-cabees again may be changing.

“In post-Zionism, there’s been some cooling of ardor for the Maccabees,” Schacter said. “I suspect that if the Zionist narrative is under scrutiny, then I believe that one’s attitude toward the legacy of the Maccabees would be contingent upon the perspective of Maccabees as a whole.”

Whichever way one sees the Macca-bees, it is hard to imagine what the Jewish people would have been like without them, or whether they would have sur-vived at all, NYU’s Rubenstein suggested.

“Perhaps Judaism would have turned out more like Christianity without the Maccabees,” Rubenstein said. “The other cultures of the region, such as the Edomim

Heroes or rabble-rousers? The real story of the MaccabeesGil sheFler JTA World news service

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Happy Hanukkah!

and the Nabateans, got assimilated into the Roman world.

“Judaism was constantly being Hel-lenized throughout the period, even under the Maccabees. They adopted Greek coins, names and customs. But is it going to compromise your fidelity to the Temple? That’s where they drew a line in the sand.”

NEW YORK (JTA) — Some 2,200 years after the Maccabees’ revolt, histo-rians and archaeologists are uncovering new information about their era.

This year’s biggest discovery is a cor-respondence between Seleukes IV, whose brother and heir was Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Hanukkah story, and one of Seleukes’ chiefs in Judea found on parts of an ancient stele.

Professor Dov Gera of Ben-Gurion University, who studied the stone’s inscrip-tion, said it confirms the account by the Jewish historian Josephus regarding the tightening grip of the Greek-Syrian empire over its subjects’ religious practices.

“[The text reveals] Seleukes appointed one of the members of his court as an official to oversee worship in the area and equate religious services throughout the empire,” Gera said. “Such an appoint-ment might have been considered by the Jews to be offensive.”

In the book of Maccabees II, Josephus tells the story of a Greek-Syrian official in a similar position who tries to rob the Temple of its gold. The stele is believed to date from 178 BCE, just over a decade before Judah Maccabee rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem.

Assembling the stele and determining its origin required some detective work.

Gera received three fragments of unknown origin that surfaced on the antiq-uities market. Upon inspection he saw that they seemed to match the fragment of another stone that was missing text.

“When I got the three broken tablets, I saw it was part of another fragment that was already published,” he said.

Gera connected the fragments and saw that they matched. He concluded that the fragments must have been broken off the original stele, which was found in a cave in Israel’s Beit Guvrin area by grave robbers.

“I hope that the rest of the stele will be found because we are still missing the first part,” he said.

— Gil Shefler

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Don’t get me wrong. I love my mother’s latkes. She learned them from her mother, a marvelous cook who kept a kosher kitchen in Brooklyn in the 1920s and ’30s. She made her own Shabbos wine using Concord grapes from upstate New York and won at poker every Saturday night. I mean, my grandmother’s latkes: How much more authentic can you get? And they are excellent: Potatoes and onions grated through the smallest holes of the hand grater, seasoned with onion tears and skin of knuckles, fried in the same pan every year for seven decades. Soft on the inside and crispy on the edges, a little greasy and wonderful re-heated in the oven the next day.

That said, today I have a confession to make: I also really love super crispy, long-potato-string latkes, thin and crackly and wafting a fresh fried potato scent. And I love latkes made of luscious fall roots, grated parsnips and celery root and carrots and beets, madly colored with butternut squash and laced with the foresty flavors of chanterelle mushrooms, leeks, fennel and pears. Since these are not as crispy, I like to honor the memory of Judith, who, in the second century B.C., lopped off the head of the evil Assyrian general Holofernes after plying him with cheese cakes and wine, and serve these with very crisp fried cheese “cookies,” simply made with grated Parmesan.

The best accompaniments for crazy quilt latkes such as these are not necessarily the traditional (and again, com-pletely yummy) homemade cinnamon-scented apple sauces of my youth, but more tart relishes and chut-neys, sparkling with cran-berries, pomegranate and candied ginger. The sour cream stays — it’s always

completely perfect with latkes. But if you can find it, instead try my favorite, quark (a lighter, German-style cultured cheese made with buttermilk) and add a new, tarter, lower-fat accompaniment to your latkes.

Another dearly held memory treat from my mom and childhood is of Hanukkah sugar cookies, rolled thin, cut into Hanukkah shapes and baked, fill-ing the house with their characteristic caramelly smell and frosted by kids with messy blue-and-white icing and sprin-kles. I wouldn’t trade the memory of messing up the kitchen every year with Hanukkah sugar cookies for anything, yet I must admit that I have a more sophisti-cated “chef’s” favorite Hanukkah cookie to share, a delicate shortbread made with cream cheese and ground nuts, decorated before baking with a thin egg wash and twinkling white and blue baking sugars.

So, please indulge my chef’s palate and enjoy making these Hanukkah delights this year!

Very Crispy Potato Latkes

2 lbs. russet or Yukon gold potatoes1 medium onion3 egg whites (you can use the yolks to make the shortbread cookies)3 to 6 Tbs. matzoh meal or all-purpose flour2 tsp. kosher or sea salt1 tsp. fresh cracked white or black peppercornsLight flavored oil for frying (canola is good)

Peel and grate the potatoes through the large holes of a box grater. Toss into ice water (ice removed) and swish around briefly to remove the starch and firm them up. Drain, spread on a large, clean dishtowel, roll up the towel and press and squeeze out as much moisture as possible; the potato strings must be very dry. Grate the onion on the large holes of the grater and mix with the potatoes.

Beat the egg whites until foamy, add to the potatoes and stir in the flour or matzoh meal and the salt and pepper.

Heat 1-1/2” oil over medium heat until shimmering on the surface and a few strings of potato cook golden brown in about a minute. Put 2 large table-spoons of potatoes per latke into the oil and press flat with the back of a spatula. Let bubble and fry on one side until deep golden brown, then turn and cook until the same color on the other side. The second side will cook more quickly than the first because

Shh! A chef’s secret favorites for Hanukkahemily moore JTnews columnist

the latke has heated up inside during frying. Drain well on absorbent towels and serve right out of the pan. You can freeze them on a cookie sheet, then store in a Ziploc bag for several days. Re-heat in a 400º oven.

Serve with applesauce and sour cream, or with pears or quince, peeled, seed-ed and sautéed with cinnamon and vanilla.

Makes 10 to 12 latkes

Crazy Quilt Latkes

1/2 lb. each of your choice of: Parsnips, celery root, yams, beets, butternut squash, carrots, sweet potatoes and/or fennel (anise) bulb to make 2 lbs.For each 2 lbs. of vegetables:1/2 large yellow onion3 large green onions or 1 large leek, white and light green parts only1/2 lb fresh chanterelle, shiitake (remove the stems) or portabella mushrooms4 egg whites1/4 cup to 1/3 cup all purpose flour or matzoh meal2-1/2 tsp. kosher or sea salt1 tsp. freshly cracked white or black peppercornsPure olive oil, light olive oil or canola oil for frying

Peel the root vegetables and halve and core the fennel bulb (if using). Peel the yellow onion, halve and wash the leek well (if using), clean the green onions. Clean the mushrooms and slice into thin strips.

Page 16B X

16B emily’s corner Jtnews . www.Jtnews.net . friday, novemBer 26, 2010

May there be joy around you, and peace within you.

Happy Hanukkah

Grate the root vegetables on the large holes of a box grater, thinly slice the fennel bulb and the leeks or green on-ions, and grate the yellow onion. Mix all together and toss in the flour or matzoh meal. Beat the egg whites until foamy and stir into the vegetable mixture and season with the salt and pepper.

Heat 1-1/2” oil over medium heat until shimmering on the surface and a few strings of potato cook golden brown in about a minute. Put 2 large table-spoons of potatoes per latke into the oil and press flat with the back of a spatula. Let bubble and fry on one side until deep golden brown, then turn and cook until the same color on the other side. Drain well on ab-sorbent towels. You can freeze them on a cookie sheet, then store in a Ziploc bag for several days. Re-heat in a 350º oven.

Serve with crisp Parmesan “cookies,” sour cream or quark and pome-granate-cranberry relish, arranged on plates or platters to show off their colors.

Makes about 12 large latkes

Crisp Parmesan “Cookies”

8 oz grated fresh Parmesan, Romano, Asiago or any hard, aged grating cheese

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-low heat. Sprinkle 1/2 oz. (about 2 tablespoons) of cheese in an even 3” circle on the surface of the pan. Let the cheese melt and bubble briefly, then lift out carefully with a spatula and place on a cookie sheet covered with paper t o w e l i n g . Let cool and become firm and crisp. Repeat with the remain-ing cheese. Voila! Lacy, crisp cheese cookies!

Makes about 12 3” crisps

Cranberry Pomegranate Relish

2 cups pure pomegranate juice (not syrup or pomegranate molasses)2 cups fresh cranberries8 pitted dates, chopped1/2 cup honey1/2 tsp. anise seed1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped1/4 cup candied mango or papaya, sliced into strips (available in bulk at Central Market)1 tsp. vanilla

Combine pomegranate juice, cran-berries, dates and anise seed in a 2-quart non-aluminum saucepan. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 30 minutes, adding 1/2 cup water after 15 minutes. Add the honey, ginger, mango or papaya and vanilla and

continue cooking until the mixture thickens to a thick syrup, stirring often to prevent scorch-ing. Cool com-pletely, stirring as the relish thickens. Chill. Adjust flavor with lemon, lime or grapefruit juice and/or zest, or more pomegranate juice as desired.Makes about 3-1/2 cups

Cream Cheese Almond Shortbread Hanukkah Cookies

1/2 lb. butter8 oz. cream cheese1 cup powdered sugar3/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted 5 or 6 minutes at 350º1 tsp. vanilla1/4 tsp. salt1-3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 large egg beaten with1 Tbs. milkBlue and white crystal baking sugar for decoratingGrind the almonds and powdered su-

gar together in the bowl of a food pro-cessor until very finely ground. Set aside. Cream the butter and cream cheese together in the food proces-sor bowl until completely blended and fluffy, stopping to scrape down the sides once or twice. Add the nut mixture, vanilla and salt and pulse to combine completely. Add the flour and pulse, combining until just mixed. Scrape out of the bowl and divide into 3 discs. Wrap each one in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or as long as 2 days.

Roll out each disc until about 1/4” thick on a lightly floured counter. Cut with Hanukkah cookie cutters to make stars, dreidels, candles, etc. Place on a very lightly greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet, brush each with the egg-milk mix-ture and sprinkle with the blue and white decorating sugars in patterns or as sprinkles.

Bake at 325º until firm, set and very lightly golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet or care-fully remove to racks to cool com-pletely. Makes about 2-1/2 dozen 2” cookies.

emily’S corner W Page 15B

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jtnews | november 26, 2010 | hanukkah section

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