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A Very Israeli Chanukah

Former Detroiters celebrate with the country's customs, activities and foods.

Shelli Liebman Dorfman I Contributing Writer

T

he excitement of the upcoming
Chanukah holiday is reaching a
new level for the Parshan family
who, this year, will be celebrating it for
the first time in their new home in Israel.
"We have plans!," says Lisa Parshan,
former director of Akiva Hebrew Day
School's Early Childhood Center, who
made aliyah from Southfield with her
family this past summer.
Taking advantage of the break offered
by many Israeli school districts on
Chanukah, the family will visit sites
specific only to Israel. Parshan says the
Hasmonean Village in Shilat, where the
story of Chanukah is recreated each year,
and attending the Ein Yael Oil Festival
"are on our list:'
"Unlike the U.S. where, if you planned
it well, you could do a day trip every
Sunday, here the kids are in school six
days a week, so when they are off school,
it's trip time," says Parshan, who lives in
Beit Shemesh.
Chanukah-related fun can be found
nearly everywhere in Israel. Several big-
production children's shows tour the
country and venues like the Children's
Museum in Holon, the Israel Museum in
Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art
and the Museum of Edible Oil Production
in Haifa highlight Chanukah with related
displays.

GIFTS AND GELT
With eight nights of gift-giving not being
an Israeli-Chanukah practice, Parshan
says, "We will fit in perfectly as it is actu-
ally our family tradition specifically not to
give gifts on Chanukah. If you look at the
sources for gift-giving it is pretty clear to
see that custom became popular in North
America as Chanukah fell during the win-
ter months tied to a non-Jewish holiday
where gift-giving is expected."
But she says, "That doesn't mean that
my kids lose out. When the kids were
younger, we would buy a new family
game and have game night; we make sure
that each night of Chanukah we have
a special dinner planned with the kids'
favorite foods:' One night the children
get Chanukah gelt, with the amount cor-

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An LED menorah lights up the Tel Aviv shoreline.

sufganiyot.

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IDF soldiers dig into

Jill Greenbaum's ornate case allows the family's menorah to be

displayed outdoors, for everyone to see.

responding to their age, plus an extra
one for good luck. "I once heard after the
Greeks were defeated — after the miracle
of Chanukah — it was necessary to begin
re-educating the Jews about Jewish cus-
toms and traditions that had been lost
during the Greek reign. As a reward for
Torah study, children got gelt."
Jeana Rivkin, who grew up in
Southfield and now lives in Jerusalem,
says her family, including her Israeli-
born children, "have been keeping with
my parents' tradition and give a gift each
night:' She admits, "One or two nights we
give them socks or a coloring book:'
For Elana Greenbaum, who made ali-
yah from Southfield to Netanya in 2014,
there's no place like Israel to celebrate

Chanukah. "In America, Chanukah and
Christmas often overlap and it's pretty
hard to compete with 'the season with
all the lights, and trees and songs on the
radio," she says. "But here 'the season'
is Chanukah. Every store is selling suf-
ganiyot [Chanukah doughnuts] and you
can buy a full box of candles for 1 shekel
[26 cents]! People decorate, there are
Chanukah songs being played; it's impos-
sible not to feel that a special holiday is
coming:'
Hannah Farkas also feels the holiday
everywhere she goes. "At work, we light
candles together and people sing, which
is a really nice tradition and definitely
makes the holiday feel more like a com-
munal activity:' says the former West

Bloomfield resident. "We always have suf-
ganiyot at work, as does every workplace
I've been in or heard of, which was weird
at first because I am used to the holiday
being marked by my grandma's latkes.
People eat sufganiyot — with all different
flavors: creams, infusions of liquor and
more. Every bakery competes for the best
sufganiyot. I guess Israel still knows how
to give meaning to the term gaining 'holi-
day weight:"
Greenbaum says, "I think one of my
favorite parts about being in Israel is that
the moment one holiday ends, everyone
starts preparing for the next one. So right
when Sukkot ended, bakeries already
started selling sufganiyot. One bakery,
Roladin, is most famous for its special suf-
ganiyot that come with a syringe of frost-
ing that you get to inject into your dough-
nut. And I don't think it's possible to be
here without making lathes at home:'
Many Israelis also taste Moroccan
foods, like dairy couscous and svinge
(fried fritters made of flour and oil and
dusted with sugar that are served with
chocolate, halavah and homemade jams),
which Greenbaum calls "delicious.
"I had it for the first time in Tzfat, and
last year my friends made and gave it out
to people on the streets:'

CHANUKAH LIGHTS
Outdoor Chabad candle-lighting ceremo-
nies take place in various cities.
At the Western Wall, the start of
Chanukah is marked by the lighting of
a giant menorah, lit with a torch that is
first passed from hand to hand by partici-
pants who line the roads from Modi'in to
Jerusalem in the annual Chanukah Torch
Relay.
Arts and crafts workshops and other
holiday-related booths pop up in malls
and outdoor spaces during the holiday.
Israelis and tourists flock to Jerusalem
or Bnei Brak to see the menorahs on rows
of window sills.
"It's so special because growing up in
the States you walk around and you see
one or two chanukiot [Chanukah meno-
rahs] lit on each street, but here you walk
around at night and an entire building

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50 November 19 • 2015