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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