Friday, December 07, 2007

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.

29 comments:

Queenie said...

Great 55 Lime, I 've learnt alot about Judaism from my blogging buddie Ann. I have enjoyed her sharing all the celebrations that go with it, most of all Chanukah.
Btw mines up.

furiousBall said...

Happy Chaunkah!

Commander Zaius said...

Great post, One of the things that I've always felt people should be doing is sharing the better parts of their faith with others who follow something different. From my point of view I have seen so many examples of blatant ignorance of what others believe which breeds suspision and fear.
Happy Chaunkah!

snowelf said...

Happy Chaunkah Lime!! What a wonderful way to celebrate the holiday. I am fascinated by all religions and cultures--I just find them so interesting. Have a great time tonight!

--snow

lecram sinun said...

I agree... sharing our feasts and festivals with each other is so count worthy. I grew up partaking in the Muslim, Buddhist, Taoist, Hindu, Sikh and my own Catholic holy days with relish. It really deepens the appreciation for each other... and my hope is that replaces the perception of division that presently exist.

Mona said...

Happy Chanuka Lime! hope you have a great December celebrations

Maddy said...

Well I'm heartily glad to hear that you've rediscovered it, or revived the tradition. [I assume frozen and then microwaved Latkes don't count?]
Cheers

This is my calling card or link"Whittereronautism"until blogger comments get themselves sorted out.

Akelamalu said...

Happy Chanukah.

That's a great 55!

Mine's up too.

Mother Theresa said...

What a nice way to start a tradition. Happy Chanukah!

S said...

Channah wishes you a chappy Chanukah!



XXX Have a lovely weekend Lime!

Flash said...

Well wishes and a 55 to boot!

athough i'm not Jewish, I appreciate the well wishes for them

Anonymous said...

Happy Chanukah Michelle!

cathy said...

A lovely post. Happy holidays Lime

SignGurl said...

How awesome of your friend to take the time to educate you! If everyone in the world made more efforts like this, we would all understand each other better.

Have a great weekend!

Unknown said...

Happy Chanukah!

Raymond said...

Ohhh I am so jealous of your latkes! Chanukah was always celebrated along with Xmas when I was a child in the community I lived. Happy Chanukah hun.

GAB said...

It's nice to learn about other ways of celebrating the birth of Christ or just plain a different belief. I so wish I had a chance to experence what you have with a good friend. Thanks for sharing your memories

RennyBA said...

Never heard about it, but then again: there is always something to learn from reading your blog. Anyway: Happy Chaunkah!

www.terella.no

Rick Rockhill said...

hey Michelle- Happy Chanukah to you and the whole house of Lime

Jeni said...

That's a wonderful way to share religious traditions and beliefs and show your children we can all co-exist together in peace with love and learning that gains respect for all in the process.

Boysenberry said...

Great post. :)

Charles said...

Wonderful 55, wonderful friends, Happy Chanukah. I love how open you are to others, and how you are thankful for so much. It shows me a good example of what to aspire to.

Anonymous said...

That's wonderful! What a great thing for all of you to experience...yer kids are lucky that you are always expanding their hearts and their brains!

G-Man said...

Mazel Tov!!!!!

robkroese said...

Happy Chanukah, Lime!

KFarmer said...

Wonderful :)

The Zombieslayer said...

Heck, as far as I'm concerned, the more holidays, the better. I wish I was still in touch with some of my old Pagan friends and we'd be celebrating Yule. I'm all for celebrating other people's holidays. :)

Happy Chanukah!

Mona said...

happy Galen's birthday Lime :)

Joeprah said...

I am really touched by this...you are such a cool person! What a great family you have and your friends rock too. Enjoy your celebration.