Hanukkah has long been my second-favorite holiday, right after Sukkot, the festival Hanukkah was modeled on, at least liturgically. I’ll tell you more about that in a moment. First, I want to share what I remember about celebrating Hanukkah more than 40 years ago, before it was relegated to second place. I remember learning the stories of the brave Maccabees and the miracle of the oil from a hardcover children’s book that was published before…
Rabbi's Message
Pictured above: TLC students and CBT adults at an intergenerational program They Tried to Kill Us (We Survived, Let’s Eat!) You’ve almost certainly heard this explanation of nearly every Jewish holiday, perhaps associated with Passover. Or Hanukkah. For reasons too numerous to mention, I’ve come to believe its origin is actually the Book of Esther. When the holiday of Purim—considered a minor festival because it isn’t mentioned in the Torah—was instituted by the ancient…
Much has been written in the last few weeks about the convergence of Hanukkah & Christmas. I’m more interested in Hanukkah’s crossover from 2024 to 2025. Today, the eighth day of Hanukkah, coincides with the second day of the Hebrew month of Tevet and the second day of the month of January, which is the second day of the new year of 2025. The significance of this connection between Hanukkah and the new year occurred…