Friday 55 & Da Count-Learning from Each Other

Invading armies desecrate the holy place.

Brave men fight back led by the one called 'The Hammer.'

The foe is defeated, the temple cleansed.

We must relight the lamps.

There is so little consecrated oil.

It will take days to prepare more.

Unexpectedly, the lamps burn 8 days.

A great miracle has happened.

Happy Chanukah!

I've got a friend coming over tonight so we can cook latkes and light the menorah. It's been a while since we've been able to do this together but when our kids were all younger we enjoyed celebrating Chanukah together. It started quite by accident one year when we invited her over for dinner and she paused a moment to say, 'Well, that's the first night of Chanukah.' We quickly said we didn't want to interfere with her observances and we could do it another night. She paused again and asked if we could celebrate it together. I was excited to have the chance to learn about the holiday a little more and have my kids exposed to this as well. She brought her Menorah, and driedels and gelt for each of the kids. She taught me how to make latkes and how to light the menorah properly and recite the prayers. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed celebrating each year for several Decembers after that first one. We've celebrated Purim and Passover together once or twice as well. It's been enriching of our own faith and practices to understand Judaism a little better through her openness and it's been a lovely dimension of our friendship to share things. So this week, I am counting her initial suggestion all those years ago that we celebrate Chanukah together.