Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
Hanukkah
The Latest
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The Schmooze I Celebrate Hanukkah — but Here’s Why I’m in Love With Christmas
(JTA) — All I want for Hanukkah is Christmas. I grew up in suburban Chicago surrounded by my fellow Jews — at school, at camp, on the weekends, at my parents’ friends’ houses, in the streets and parks of my neighborhood. Even then, I knew that Jews made up less than 2 percent of America’s…
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Opinion Why I Hate Chrismukkah and So Should You
East Asian civilizations identify themselves through their use of chopsticks, European ones have universally adopted the knife and fork, but not one significant civilization has ever embraced the spork. The reason that this highly practical spoon-shaped eating utensil with short tines at the tip has not become a favorite is because it’s a compromise. Neither…
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Breaking News Shimon Peres’ Son Will Light Menorah at President Obama’s Last Hanukkah Party
WASHINGTON — Members of Shimon Peres’ family will light candles at President Barack Obama’s final Hanukkah party using a family heirloom menorah. Chemi Peres, the late Israeli president’s son, and Mika Almog, his granddaughter, will light the candles at the party Wednesday evening, more than a week before the start of the holiday, according to…
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Recipes The Secret Sage-Scented History of the Menorah
On successive trips to Israel beginning in the 1980s, I became enchanted with the country’s native wild salvias, thought to be the inspiration for the biblical menorah described in Exodus (37:17-24). In my travels I saw them growing by the roadside, on hillsides, and in the Negev desert, as well as at Neot Kedumim, the…
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Opinion A Hanukkah Freedom Party With Human Rights Violators
On December 14th, the Embassy of Azerbaijan will co-host a Hanukkah party at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, with the Conference of President of Major American Jewish Organizations. This celebration of “religious freedom and diversity” is another transparent attempt by Azerbaijan to portray itself as a stable, Western-facing democracy, an image designed to…
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News Why World’s Largest Menorah Can’t Be Called ‘World’s Largest Menorah’
(JTA) — Each year in Brooklyn, Chabad Rabbi Shimon Hecht ascends 33 and a half feet to light the tallest menorah in the world. But he’s not allowed to call it that anymore. By decree of a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical court, Hecht must cede the title of “World’s Largest Menorah” to another candelabra, this one also erected…
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Community 8 Foods You Didn’t Know Jews Eat During Hanukkah
This piece was contributed by Masa Israel Journey — for more information, click here. This year, like every year since I was a child, I started counting down the days to Hanukkah before the first blow of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. I just can’t wait for the one week when it’s socially acceptable –…
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Life Not Sure What to Give This Hanukkah? Have You Considered a Rock?
It’s an annual holiday tradition to circulate and mock outrageously expensive gift guides. (Goop’s being the prime example.) But there’s a new contender: the rock-in-a-pouch. Why was Nordstrom selling a rock in a leather pouch for $85 and more to the point, why is it sold out? (Limited supply, possibly. A good rock is hard…
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