too ts% Let us Cater or Host your Holiday Party! Leon's Banquet Room Seats 100 Vizeubso: f 1 0,0 ome CELEBRATE 30 years with Moe!! I I "Eight Days a Week" by the Beatles makes our Chanukah playlist. The Beatles, Spice Girls and more find a place on our Chanukah playlist. Binyamin Kagedan JNS.org F or your Chanukah party this year, impress and surprise your guests with songs that aren't explicitly about the Festival of Lights but relate to the holiday in an imagi- native way. INS. org takes care of your playlist for the most wonderful time of the Jewish year. "Eight Days a Week" (released on the Beatles' 1964 album Beatles for Sale) If you've ever wondered why Chanukah lasts eight days, it's not because the menorah has eight branches; in fact, the original menorah had only seven (the eight-branched version is actually a chanukiah). Only two holidays on the Jewish calendar run for eight days — can you guess the other one? It's actually Sukkot (Passover runs seven days except in the diaspora), and the correspondence is no accident. Having taken back the Temple, Judah and the Maccabees wanted to hold a grand reopening festival worthy of the dwelling place of the Divine. For inspiration, they looked to the biblical holiday of Sukkot, which, among other things, marked the dedication of the original tabernacle and lasted for eight days (seven days, plus Shemini Atzeret). No wonder Lennon and McCartney chose the eight-day week to symbolize love that goes above and beyond. "Light My Candle" (from the 1996 Tony-winning musical Rent) This is an obvious choice for its title alone — even if the lyrics aren't the most PG-rated. For those who don't know the story (based on Puccini's La Boheme), this number is about the power of bringing a little light into someone's dark times, acting with kindness toward a stranger in need. The image of light is perhaps the old- est symbol of goodness, purity and hope in human imagination. Rabbi Arthur Waskow, in Seasons of Our Joy, points out that Chanukah is scheduled close in time to the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, and so may truly have been a "festival of light" for ancient Israelites. "Seize the Day" (from Newsies, the 1992 cult film and now hit Broadway musical) Chanukah celebrates the improbable victory of the Jewish people in their struggle for political and religious inde- pendence from the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. Any musical based on the Maccabees story would need to include a song like this one, all about stepping up and facing down a fearsome enemy in the name of freedom: "Nothing can break us/no one can make us/give our rights away/arise and seize the day!" 30% OFF TOTAL BILL* `After 5pm, Dinner Entrees only, Now through 12/30/13, Both Locations, Dine-in only. I Buy one Dinner get One 50% OFF With coupon. Not valid with any other offers. ...................... ' s ..... ===== Leon's of Wixom Moe's on Ten 29710 Wixom Road • Wixom 39455 West 10 Mile, Novi 248.926.5880 248.478.9742 www.leonsofwixom.com www.moeso n1 0.com Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Catering WISHING OUR CUSTOMERS Order your Holiday Trays now... Meat Trays starting as low as per person (8 parson minimum) 248-540-7220 • Fax 248-540-6269 877 W Long Lake at Telegraph • Bloomfield Hills 1874750 "You Spin Me Round" (from the 1985 album Youthquake by the British New Wave band Dead or Alive) Though games of chance are not gener- ally looked upon favorably in rabbinic literature, spinning the dreidel has become an indispensable Chanukah pastime. Not only that, but "Dreidel, Dreidel Dreidle (I Made It Out of Clay)," has without a doubt become the most widely recognized Jewish holiday tune on the North American continent. For a twist (couldn't help myself) this year, let the kids twirl themselves dizzy to one of the quintessential sounds of the 1980s. "Wannabe" (from the 1996 album Spice by British pop band the Spice Girls) Finding the perfect Chanukah present is a complicated affair. Since we don't (yet) ask kids to open Chanukah gift regis- tries, gift buying can easily become an exercise in thankless guesswork. Perhaps we could all save ourselves some aggravation by adopting the frank attitude of this girl-group classic's open- ing dialogue: "So tell me what you want, what you really, really want!" "I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want!" "So tell me what you want, what you really, really want!" "I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want!" ❑ Binyamin Kagedan has a master's degree in Jewish thought from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. The Staff of Beau Jacks Wishes All Our Customers A Happy Chanukah! 4108 West Maple • Bloomfield Hills (248) 626-2630 We Wish Our Friends and Customers A Happy Chanukah! &o l de ► Ph oe n ix Chinese American Restaurant Sugar Tree Plaza 6257 Orchard Lake Rd. ■ West Bloomfield 855-3570 1874790 November 28 • 2013 71