SHARING THE
CHANUKAH STORY
My kids are in a public school
where there aren’t many Jewish
families. From the time my oldest
was in kindergarten, teachers
have asked us to come in and
talk about Chanukah. So, every
year, I come to the school with
dreidels and gelt to tell the story
of Chanukah and the rituals
behind it.
The Chanukah before the
pandemic, we hosted one of the
Shinshinim (a Jewish Agency
for Israel program that sends
high school grads to live with

host families for a year as young
ambassadors to various cities
through Jewish Federations
before doing their military ser-
vice). Yuval was gracious enough
to join me in talking about
Chanukkah.
While Shinshinim are usually
here to help in Jewish institu-
tions, it was really special to have
Yuval talk about how Chanukah
is celebrated in Israel. For many
kids, our family is the first Jewish
family they’ve met before. We’re a
blended Israeli family and having
someone our kids look up to like
an older brother come to talk to
their friends about Chanukah
was really special. All of the kids
wanted Yuval to play the dreidel
game with them.
This was one of the best
Chanukkah experiences we’ve
had as a family.

Hillary Glaser

Walled Lake

HER FATHER’S
VOICE
December 1971 was
the last Chanukah
shared with my
father, as he died
in September 1972.
Each year, as I light
the candles and sing
the blessings, I can still hear my
father singing the blessings with
me, in his Ashkenazic accent, 50
years later.

Penny Goldin Michelin

Rochester

A CHARITABLE TRADITION
A few years ago, my eldest broth-
er, Danny Devries, came up with
a wonderful tradition for our
immediate family! Every year he

sends our family an email that
reads something like this:
“In lieu of a material gift, we
will collectively donate to a char-
ity in each one of our names that
the gift recipient would appreci-
ate. For example, everyone but
Abba will collectively decide a
charity that Abba would appre-
ciate and give a gift in his name.
Then, on one night of Chanukah,
we will reveal the gift via an email
to that person. Don’t ruin the
surprise beforehand!
“Each person will have $100
donated in their honor to the
charity the rest of the family
selects for them. One person
will be designated to actually
make the donation on behalf of
each person and will also send
the email receipt to the honoree
and explain how we chose that
charity.
”
I am blessed to have a family
filled with mensches! And I high-
ly encourage other families to
take on this tradition as well!

Rachel Devries

Birmingham

A SPECIAL DAY TO GATHER
My husband’s extended family
used to all gather together on
Christmas Day to
celebrate Chanukah
as no one had to
work on that day.
Presents would be
piled high and food
would be abundant.
Once we had children, we took
over the holiday with our extend-
ed family. We changed it up a
little by making homemade latkes
to go with the delicious foods
that were brought by other family
members. And, yes, there were
lots of presents. But the best part
of all was all being together and
celebrating Chanukah.
Due to COVID, we had to
cancel our gathering in 2020.
This year, all being vaccinated, we
are all looking forward to being
together again!

Esther Gold

Farmington Hills

CHANUKAH

The JN asked readers for their
holiday stories — and they delivered.

Chanukah
Traditions

18 | NOVEMBER 25 • 2021

Penny
Goldin
Michelin

Esther Gold

Hillary
Glaser

Rachel Devries

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