6i.s t
Celebrating Chanukah From Child To Adult
00 1'
of my life for coming late."
Joshua said, "What's the
matter? Don't you believe in
miracles?" He turned around,
picked up a tin can, and said, "I
bet you that this will land on the
menorah."
To this day, I don't know how
he did it. I don't think Josh knows
either. He threw the can high in the'
air. It went way up and then came
down on top of a big pile. When it
hit, a tire rolled off of the pile and
crashed into a cardboard box. The
box moved. All of a sudden I saw
the shamash of my chanukiah
sticking through an egg carton. We
both ran.
I picked up the chanukiah and
kissed it. I knew just how the
Maccabees felt when they cleaned
the Temple. I didn't know what to
say. Joshua reached into his
knapsack and took out a box of
Chanukah candles. He didn't say
anything. He put them in the
menorah, and right there — in the
garbage dump — we lit the candles
and sang the blessings. I think I
cried again.
When he rode me home, Josh
pointed to a neon sign. He said, "A
chanukiah is just like that neon
sign. That is why we put it in the
window. It lets everyone know that
as Jews we are proud to be
different. For us, the light of Torah is
the most important thing in our life."
That night, my father and I lit
the Chanukah menorah again, and
put it in the window for everyone to
see. I told my father that I was
proud to be different. I said, "If
someone needs help, I will always
be the one to help. If something is
right and someone must speak up, I
will be that person. I am going to be
a good Jew."
Later that night, I sneaked out
of bed into the kitchen. I spent
hours polishing and cleaning the
chanukiah. I felt just like the
Maccabees. The chanukiah that
Great-Great-Grandmother
Rosenberg brought from Bavaria,
and which came from Baltimore on
a covered wagon was always going
to be protected. Late that night, I
had my own Chanukah. My
chanukiah had its own dedication.
Reprinted by permission from
Building Jewish Life: Chanukah by
Joel Laurie Grishaver.
Each month in this space,
L'Chayim will present a Yiddish
lesson entitled "Du Redst Yiddish
(Do You Speak Yiddish?)" whose
aim is to encourage further study of
Yiddish. The lesson will include a
brief story utilizing the Yiddish
words to be studied, a vocabulary
list with English translations and a
family activity which involves using
the new words. Two books which
may be helpful for beginning
Yiddish students are Yiddish for
Beginners by Dr. Joffen and Der
Yiddisher Lerer by Goldin.
Weinreich's English-Yiddish
Dictionary also may be useful. At
the conclusion of each lesson will
be a suggested list of books for
persons who wish to further their
knowledge.
The lessons were prepared by
Mary Koretz of Oak Park. She has
taught both children's and adult
classes in Yiddish at the Workmen's
Circle.
Following is this month's
lesson:
Chanukah is observed a sach
differently heint than when I was a
child many yorin ago. At that time,
no child received matones for the
eight days of the yom tov. As a
matter of fact, no one hot bakumen
any gifts at all. What we did get was
Chanukah gelt. For the merstn
tayl, it was pennies.
I gedenk particularly the
pennies we received from Bunim
and Abraham. They were two
bocherim who were boarders of my
mume Kayle and feter Motel.
Abraham would give me my
Chanukah money with a shmaychl.
I would say, "A dank" and he
would say, "You bahnits it in good
health. The exchange was kurts
and sweet. Not so with his bruder.
Bunim would use the giving of the
money as an opportunity to raytsn
me, to express his macht as the
giver and to eat my harts out. He
would say, "I vays you want this
money." I said gornit. He said, "I
bet you have it already oysgegebn
in your mind." I said nothing. He
said, "I'll bet you would be
antoysht if I didn't give it to you."
He was wrong. In emes, I wished
he wouldn't give it to me and make
me leidn this humiliation. But in
those teg, children never spoke up
to their elders so I said nothing.
Finally, he oysgetsaylt the 10
pennies he gave me. I remember it
was 10 because he parted with
yeder penny as though it was the
Hope diamond. Then the torment
was fartik. It took a lot of potato
latkes to compensate me for this
ordeal!
Vocabulary
sach
heint
yorin
matones
yom tov
hot bakumen
gelt
merstn tayl
gedenk
bocherim
mume
feter
shmaychl
dank
bahnits
much
today
years
gifts
holiday
received
money
for the most part
remember
bachelors (or boys)
aunt
uncle
smile
thanks
use
kurts
bruder
raytsn
macht
harts
vays
gornit
oysgegebn
antoysht
emes
leidn
teg
oysgetsaylt
yeder
fartik
short
brother
tease
power
heart
know
nothing
spent
disappointed
truth
suffer
days
counted
each
finished
Family Activity
Go as a family to a
convalescent home or an old folks
home and bring a Chanukah
present to someone who never has
visitors.
VIDEO CASSETTES
(VHS format)
The Jewish Customs; The Miracle of Chanukah —
Small Wonder Puppet Theater, both at Spitzer's.
TOYS AND GAMES
Dreidel paddle, UFO spin top dreidel, Simchah
Charades, Jewish Brain Teaser, all at Spitzer's. Yom
Tov Bingo, at Borenstein's.
BOOKS
Shira's New Start, Libby Lazewnik; Living Each Day,
Rabbi Abraham Twerski, at both Spitzer's and
Borenstein's. Building Jewish Life: Chanukah, Joel
Grishaver; All about Chanukah, Groner and Wikler; It's
Not the Jewish Christmas, Norman Geller; The Story
of Chanukah, Maida Silverman, all at Spitzer's.
K'tonton in the Circus: A Chanukah Adventure, Sadie
Weilerstein; The Dreidel Champ, Smodar Shir Sidi; The
Happy Draydel, Ruth Samuck; Chanukah of Great-
Uncle Otto, Myron Levoy; Light Another Candle,
Miriam Chaikin; The Lost Side of the Dreydl, Barbara
Birenbaum; The Dangerous Dreidle Ride, Chaiky
Halpern.
S pitzer's is located at 21770 W. 11 Mile, Southfield.
Bornestein's is located at 25242 Greenfield, Oak Park.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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