Coming so soon after the massive trauma in Pittsburgh, how would Hanukkah be felt in the hearts and spirits of the people there?

There is something very Jewish about the way I use cookbooks, and the way I use Jewish cookbooks, in particular.

Recently, I took my b’nai mitzvah students to the Knesset to see how liberal Jewish values are rooted in tradition and can inform Israel’s public policy decisions.

In Jerusalem, Hanukkah is all about food. The famous Israeli jelly donuts appear in shops about a month before the holiday screaming, “Buy me! Eat me! Savor me!”

Sometimes we create our own traditions, sometimes we carry on a tradition we inherit, and sometimes a tradition can come from unexpected places.

This meditation for Hanukkah focuses on bringing the light we carry inside ourselves into the world and lighting the lamps of awe and wonder in our children.

This light’s for Hanukkah, for a people who who choose to begin our best of days with light...
 

Hanukkah offers echoes from our tradition to be “a light among the nations,” suggesting that we, like the holiday’s candles, can bring warmth and vision to the world.

This year, the heated argument between the disciples of Hillel and the followers of Shammai over how to light the Hanukkah menorah speaks to me.