Bloggers, like all writers, can’t always choose their subject. Sometimes a subject chooses you. So while I would prefer to write a light, meaningful or amusing post in honor of Chanukah, you will be reading (if you dare) about a rather heavy subject.
I’m talking about Sufganiyot, the traditional jelly doughnut with its loose connection to the Chanukah miracle, because doughnuts are fried in oil . Bakeries begin offering them about 6 weeks before the holiday and continue until close to Purim about two months afterward.
I haven’t had a single sufganiyah this year, and not (mainly) because I am afraid of the 600 or so calories they each contain. I just don’t like them. Lest you think I’m picky, I enjoy pita, burekas, meat-filled “cigars,” cheesecake, rogelach, chumus, felafel, and matbucha.
At first I feared I must be missing out on something and tried one or two. I am talking about your standard, bakery or supermarket sufganiyah and not the upscale type, which are usually better. But when the standard ones are served people of all ages are reaching for them, except for me. Here’s why:
I adore the other traditional Chanukah food, latkes, which are potato pancakes fried in oil. I can eat a lot of those. But I make them only once or twice during the week as a side dish, because aside from being a lot of work, reason #6 applies here too. I am getting too old for this kind of thing.
On a different note Chanukah has brought some good news along with the sufganiyot. I’d like to wish Mazal Tov to one of my favorite bloggers and commenters, Lion of Zion, along with the Mrs. and Junior, on the birth of a daughter. LoZ sent me a question by email before the birth so even though I didn’t know the answer, all of us here at MiI share in your simcha.
And Haveil Havalim #247 can be found at The Israel Situation.
Chag sameach—Happy Chanukah to all.
Israeli Bloggers! Don’t miss our event on Saturday evening, December 26, with Jacob Share.
Our preparations for Chanukah, which starts tonight, have been low-key. My husband had to use up vacation days so he took our 8-year-old to Seattle for a week to see my father-in-law. I thought it might be a mini-vacation for me to have only three kids home most of the time, but there is always something to do! My husband does 99% of the shopping.
My 13-year-old went shopping at the shuk today for the first time. So far he’s only called me twice with questions, less than I expected.
Yesterday a jar of silver polish inside a cabinet tipped over, requiring me to clean or throw out numerous items. Well, some cabinets are now ready for Pesach. 
Fortunately we’d finished most of the cooking.
It’s going to be a quiet Shabbat with my soldier son visiting. So far he’s come home every Friday. I think he would have stayed in this week if it weren’t for Chanukah.
Before starting basic training, he had to sit through lectures on different topics. The soldiers are only allowed to comment if they don’t understand. When a commander gave information that was obviously wrong, my son had to keep quiet so he wouldn’t get punished. My son’s indignant reaction: “That’s no way to teach.” Remember, correcting teachers is A Family Trait.
We have plenty to keep us busy: two shul parties for children and adults (I guess I’ll go alone), my son is preparing a two-day camping trip/counselor’s course, his older sister wants to host a slumber party when he’s gone, my niece will be visiting, my small daughter is invited to a birthday party (one hour long! how inconvenient), and we are hosting the family Chanukah party the day my husband and son get back.
My mother died before Chanukah 19 years ago. My oldest son and I spent the holiday with my father in the US, the last time any of us visited in the winter. But we didn’t have any other children then to keep my husband company! We’re okay.
Wishing you all a joyful holiday.
P.S. You might enjoy this post from CookingManager.Com: Extreme Frugality: Twenty Memories of My Mother.
My brother-in-law wrote his report about our annual Chanukah party here. He has to be nice, because he knows I read his blog. (I even send him the occasional unsolicited suggestion.) It was my idea to blog about the dancing on the side of the road.
Aaron was quoted today in the Wall Street Journal, in an article on poems about the economic downturn:
Wall Street bards are also writing about the economy’s victims. Aaron Katsman, a financial adviser, saw a panhandler on the New York City subway and penned “What’s a Dime?” a four-stanza poem about the encounter:
He’s probably just down on his luck,
What’s wrong if I give him a buck?
I’d help out a friend who is stuck,
Perhaps he won’t see me when I duck.He posted the verse to his Web site and says “clients thought it was cute.” It also helped ease the tense conversations about frantic markets. “People don’t expect their licensed financial adviser to call up about the latest in iambic pentameter,” Mr. Katsman says.
I guess this shows that you have to branch out if you want to be noticed. You can find the whole thing here.
At the party, my teenage niece wanted to play a game she had learned at her father’s family’s party, so her mother and I made up the game boards. Each team gets a paper with nine numbered squares, with each square containing a word or phrase. The items in each team’s numbered squares match–i.e., they both fit into a particular category. For instance, if the category for square #1 is birds, Team A’s page will say Robin and Team B’s page will say Cardinal. The teams take turns guessing what is on the other team’s board–the winner is the first to fill in the terms in other team’s nine squares correctly. There’s no need to guess or name the category, but broader categories make the game harder. Our categories included gates of the Old City, first names of cousins (we chose siblings but no one realized–there are 22 cousins so far), and flowers. The kids, especially the teenagers, were completely engaged.
It can be hard to find games for mixed age groups–Mafia works well. I would love suggestions for next year.
From the Motherlode blog at the New York Times, on Jewish couples who have conflicts about holiday customs similar to those of intermarried couples:
I heard recently from Tami Kamin-Meyer, a lawyer with two sons, ages 10 and 14, living in Columbus, OH. “Both my husband of nearly 16 years and I are Jewish,” she wrote in an e-mail. “But his brand of Judaism is far more American than mine. My family is Israeli, and while I am a first generation American, my celebration of Jewish holidays, including traditions and attitudes, are closely aligned with Israeli customs rather than American.” When their first child was born, her husband wanted to hang stockings in the living room, but she did not. (They don’t.) He is more comfortable with prayers and holiday songs in English, which she prefers them in Hebrew. (They incorporate a little of both.)
I didn’t know that hanging stockings is a Jewish-American Chanukah custom. But then I’ve been away a long time.
(I am being sarcastic here, but I guess it didn’t come through. Sarcasm doesn’t work so well on blogs.)
Chanukah Sameach! My camera is broken and I’m too lazy to scour the net, so you will have to manage without the traditional picture. As compensation I present some links.
My friend Masha Faygel surprised me by inviting me out to lunch last week. She explained that this was part of a Chanukah challenge from her rabbi and mentor, Reb Chayim. For each of the eight days of Chanukah, she needed to complete eight tasks that were intended to stretch her personality, her spiritual level, and her compassion for others. As one of the few to complete the Chanukah challenge, Reb Chayim invited her to continue to the next level. Her first task was to find new participants in the basic level. I agreed for three reasons:
So, if you get an email from me in the next few days inviting you out to lunch , you’ll know why.
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