Happy birthday Woody Guthrie, our greatest Hanukkah songwriter
The composer of 'Hanuka Gelt' and 'This Land Is Your Land' would have turned 110 today
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Opinion The creator of Kwanzaa modified a Hanukkah menorah — and gave advice to Black Jews
When Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966, he borrowed the concept of a menorah — and according to some accounts, he physically altered one — to invent the seven-candle kinara. A generation later, he gave something back to Judaism. An uncompromising 1960s revolutionary turned university professor, Karenga was already a cultural icon, and his holiday…
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News He brought Hanukkah to a street famous for Christmas lights. Antisemitism followed — but so did joy.
It’s a holiday tradition in Baltimore: Visiting the Miracle on 34th Street, a city block where houses go all out with candy canes, rooftop Santas and life-size plastic elves and snowmen — except for one row house, where a seven-foot-tall inflatable polar bear spins a dreidel, and a silver LED menorah “burns” from Thanksgiving to…
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Opinion Is the Christmas tree a religious symbol? What about a menorah?
America in the midst of our holiday season — a time for family, rest and hotly contested litigation over religious displays on government property. For this year’s installment, we have a “tree lighting event” hosted by the Parent Teacher Association of the Carmel River Elementary School, a public school in Northern California. The event is…
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Opinion Our preschool welcomed Santa — and exiled my Jewish daughter
As told to Nora Berman; edited for length and clarity The phone lit up with an unexpected text message: it was from a staff member at my daughter’s preschool. I was confused as to why they would be texting now, when the entire class was supposed to be in the middle of their holiday party….
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Culture How Jewish is Hallmark’s ‘Eight Gifts of Hanukkah’?
I have a confession to make: I just enjoyed a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie. Or, all right; I’ll qualify that: It was “Eight Gifts of Hanukkah” — the one outlier in Hallmark’s “Countdown to Christmas” series (re-airing Dec. 12, 10 a.m. Eastern). And one reason I liked it is I view the channel in a…
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Culture Kwanzakkah celebrates power of dual identities, overcoming oppressions
For Carol Valoris, the holiday season used to evoke mixed feelings. As a white Jewish mother of two Black Jewish daughters, she described seeing her family zigzagging between Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. No matter which holiday the family was observing, she said, someone was always left out. “It always felt a little bittersweet,” said Valoris, 75,…
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Opinion Hanukkah gnomes have exploded in popularity, despite deeply antisemitic origins
If you are a Jew living in the United States, you’re likely aware of Hanukkah’s slow creep toward becoming Jewish Christmas. There is Shmelf the Hanukkah Elf, ugly sweater sugar cookies, and Wayfair Santas wrapped in prayer shawls. This year, however, the latest Chrismukkah riff is … a Hanukkah gnome. Hanukkah gnomes are cute, and…
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News Pay to pray? Not anymore. Many synagogues no longer charging for High Holiday tickets
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Opinion Just in time for Rosh Hashanah, a new reason to feel guilty
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UPCOMING EVENT
SKY & SCULPTURE
Hybrid: Online and at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan
Oct 2, 2022
6:30 pm ET ·
A Sukkah, IMKHA, created by artist Tobi Kahn, for the Marlene Meyerson JCC of Manhattan is an installation consisting of 13 interrelated sculpted painted wooden panels, constituting a single work of art. Join for a panel discussion with Rabbi Joanna Samuels, Chief Executive Director of the Marlene Meyerson JCC of Manhattan, Talya Zax, Innovation Editor of the Forward, and Tobi Kahn, Artist. Moderated by Mattie Kahn.