In honour of the last day of Chanukah I have posted this video of a medly of Chanukah songs by the YU Acapella. These guys are really good especially considering that it was an impromptu performance.
Enjoy and a freilichen Chanukah!
I understand that the reindeer on the right is Shlomo - Rudolph's first cousin on his mother's side.
The group is a Seattle men's chorus who sung this at last year's holiday celebrations.
I found it here.
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'TWAS THE FIRST NIGHT OF CHANUKAH... OY! WHAT A SHOCK!
SOMEBODY OUTSIDE WAS PICKING OUR LOCK!
AND THERE AT THE DOOR STOOD A 'ZAYDA' IN BLUE-
AND HE WORE ON HIS KUPP A BLUE YARMULKA, TOO!
HIS PUNIM WAS SHAIN-EVERYBODY WOULD LOVE IT!
'ROUND HIS NECK HUNG A CHAIN WITH A GOLD MAGEN DOVID!
HE WORE SILKEN TSITZES BENEATH HIS WOOL VEST,
AND A SMALL FLAG OF ISRAEL WAS DRAPED ON HIS CHEST!
HE SAID: "I'M NO BURGLAR, SO PLEASE DON'T BE NERVOUS.
I'M THE SPIRIT OF CHANUKAH, HERE AT YOUR SERVICE!"
"MENCHEN ALL CALL ME 'REB' SHALOM SHAPIRO!
WITHOUT ME, THIS YOM-TOV MIGHT NEED A NEW 'HERO!'"
"I VISIT ALL YIDLACH, AND BRING - KINNAHORRA-
GOOD FORTUNE AS BRIGHT AS A GLOWING MENORAH!
ICH SHLEPP LOTS OF BLESSINGS AND CHANUKAH GELT,
AND JOYS THAT ARE TAKKA THE BEST IN DER VELT!"
"IF YOU KNOW NICE MENCHEN, I'LL VISIT THEM QUICK,
AND I'LL BRING THEM GEZUNT AND A HOUSEFUL OF GLICK!"
SO WE SENT HIM TO YOUR HOUSE, AND SHOOK HANDS AND PARTED.
HE SHOUTED, "SHALOM!" AS OUT THE DOORWAY HE DARTED!
HE RAN TO A WAGON WITH HORSES AHEAD.
HE FED THEM SOME BAGELS,AND HERE'S WHAT HE SAID:
"LET'S GO, MOISH AND MENDEL! MAKE QUICK, MOE AND YUSSLE!
PLEASE GIVE A RUSH, MALKA! HEY, HYMIE, PLEASE HUSTLE!"
THEN THEY RACED LIKE THE WIND! AND THEY GALLOPED SO SHNELL,
ALL HIS CLOTHING BLEW OFF, AND HIS GATKES AS WELL!
SOON HE WAS SO KALT THAT HIS TUSHIE TURNED BLUISH!
HE MOANED AND HE HOLLERED IN ENGLISH AND YIDDISH!
SO, DON'T ACT EMBARRASSED, AND PLEASE DON'T BE RUDE
WHEN THAT FROSTBITTEN ZAYDA ARRIVES IN THE NUDE!
QUICK! WRAP HIM IN BLANKETS! DON'T BEAT 'ROUND THE BUSH'!
AND TIE A HOT WATER BAG ONTO HIS COLD TUSH!
QUICK! FEED HIM SOME CHICKEN SOUP HEISS AS CAN BE!
AND GIVE HIM SOME SHNAPPS AND A GLEZ'L HOT TEA!
'CAUSE HE BRINGS YOU A HOUSEFUL OF CHANUKAH WISHES
AS WARM AND G'SHMACK AS A PLATE OF HOT KNISHES!
AND HE BRINGS THEM FROM OUR HOUSE SO FRIENDLY AND BRIGHT,
SO YOUR HOUSE WILL KEEP GLOWING WITH CHANUKAH LIGHT.
PLUS JOY SWEET AS TSUKKER, AND PEACE AND GOOD-CHEER
AND EVERYTHING FRAYLICH EACH DAY OF THE YEAR!
AND NONE IN YOUR FAMILY WILL BE A SHLEMAZEL,
FOR LIFE WILL BRING EACH OF YOU SIMCHAS AND MAZEL!
AND ALL THROUGH THE FUTURE YOUR HOPES WILL COME TRUE,
AND HIMMEL WILL BLESS YOUR MISHPOCHA AND YOU!!!
Despite the levity above I wish everyone
Menorah at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin
I found this story in Chabad.info quite fascinating. This young shaliach went out of his way to find a yid who has, seemingly, abandoned his yiddishkeit. As usual the "pintele yid" won out and the monk was pleased to reconnect with his roots. Another wonderful Chanukah story and a great achievement for the shaliach.
The story as it appeared in Chabad.info:
Year round, the Chabad House in Sri Lanka, directed by Rabbi Mendy Crombie, works primarily with businessmen who live in the capital city of Colombo. Holidays however, he makes a point to also reach out to the hundreds of tourists who come to enjoy the magnificent sea shores of Sri Lanka.
On his last trip out to the tourist area, Rabbi Crombie was told about a certain Jew who is deeply involved in one of the local cults, and even serves as a monk there. The Rabbi spent countless hours of searching for this man. This Chanukah he was able to locate him. Equipped with a menorah and candles he set out to meet this monk. The monk was touched to meet a Rabbi at this ‘dark’ corner of the world. After twenty years of having been entirely severed from Yiddishkeit, the Jew lit a Chanukah menorah for the first time.
As reported a number of times here Rabbi Yerachmiel Gorelik has been having problems getting the menorah displayed on public property in Colorado. Despite the "controversy" he had a big turnout at his Chanukah celebration according to The Coloradoan newspaper article. I wish him much hatzlocho in all his work.
In other news Australian, David Wakil, a scientist posted to the Antarctica has lit his menorah in those icy parts. In a letter to his Rabbi, Levi Wolff of the Central Synagogue in Sydney, he says:
It is hard for me to describe the feeling of the first Jew celebrating Chanukah in Antarctica. Believe me, the light of Chanukah illuminates me and my enviroment. I write this as tears fill my eyes. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to Rabbi Wolff for his caring about Judaism.Shturem has more photos and a short video of Wakil's surrounds.
Another successful Chanukah in the Park sponsored by Yossel Gutnick and his Chabad House of Caulfield. This is pretty much the only thing they do all year but it is always a great success attracting many Jews who may not otherwise come to a Chanukah event. Kudos to Shlomie Gurewicz who organised the function again this year.
See more photos on COL.
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The "Chanukah Parade" held last Thursday was a great success. The atmosphere was wonderful and the organisers did a great job. Thanks go to YG Shaliach Sholom B Cunin and to Rabbi Binyomin Serebryanski who organised the occassion.
Sholom Cunin sent me this publicity
"Let there be light" – Menorah Parade!
The Menorah, or chanukia, is traditionally lit by the window or door of Jewish homes, symbolising the power of light over darkness and right over might
The Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi M M Schneerson took this idea a step further, stressing that menorahs be kindled in public throughout the world, with Menorah Lighting ceremonies, to illuminate the pathways of freedom for all mankind.
To spread this important message a spectacular motorcade of over a hundred and fifty cars and vans with illuminated Menorahs on their roof, traveled along the streets of Melbourne And has brought the happiness and message of Chanukah to all, Jews and non-Jews alike.
This menorah parade was organized by Rabbi Binyomin Serebransky of Chabad, and Sholom B. Cunin together with the rabbinical students in the Yeshiva Gedolah, the students also handed out over 3000 menorahs to jews that hadn't had the chance to buy there own, thus spreading the Chanukah spirit to others, as the Rebbe teaches "every Jew is like a candle, all it needs is to be lit, and it will shine brightly".
Rabbi Klein next to the Rebbe's desk
Part of the crowd downstairs in 770
THe Chabad.org site Chanukah.org had loads of information and activities for Chanukah. In particular I like the Itchie Kadoozy video: "A rabbi, a college student, and a gefilte fish share their feelings about chanukah." See it here.
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I think not...
It looks as though Bogomilsky and his supporter's efforts to get a menorah placed Seattle Airport backfired. If we go by this article in The Seattle Times the Rabbi and friends expected the airport to cave in to their (heavy handed) demands. When are we going to learn? Why throw our weight around when a gentler approach would probably yield positive results? Another chillul Hashem that could have been avoided.
Rabbi gets hate mail over airport Christmas trees
Mon Dec 11, 2006 8:18 PM ET
SEATTLE (Reuters) - A local rabbi is receiving hate mail and angry phone calls after Seattle airport officials took down its Christmas trees in response to his request to include a giant Menorah in the airport's holiday decorations, his lawyer said on Monday.Seattle-Tacoma International Airport removed its Christmas trees on Saturday after Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky threatened to sue the Port of Seattle, which operates the airport, if it did not include a menorah into its holiday decorations.
The rabbi works on behalf of Chabad-Lubavitch, a branch of Hasidic Judaism and an Orthodox Jewish movement.
The removal of the trees sparked a public outcry over what some say was political correctness run amok and part of a trend to adopt a secular tone toward Christmas.
Harvey Grad, the rabbi's attorney, said it was never Bogomilsky's intention to have the trees removed and the rabbi was "saddened" by the port's decision to remove all holiday decorations instead of including the Menorah for Hanukkah.
"We are not part of the war on Christmas," said Grad. "All we asked for was inclusion and now we're getting hate mail and angry messages."
The Chabad of Greater Seattle asked the airport to put the trees back and will not pursue any legal action even if the airport does not include the menorah into this year's holiday decorations.
In a statement, the Port of Seattle said it removed the trees to avoid litigation with a religious group, which wanted to install the menorah and hold a lighting ceremony.
"The airport is not a traditional public forum and it would not be appropriate for such a ceremony, so we made the decision to remove the trees to allow the airport staff to focus on the busy travel season," the Port said on its Web site.
Rabbi Yerachmiel Gorelik is still fighting for the right to display a Chanukah menorah in Fort Collins, Colorado (see previous post here).
The Coloradoan pubished an article by Karen Schwartz defending the right to display the menorah on city property and pointing out the narrow mindedness of this town.
See also the post in Shturem here.
Rabbi Yerachmiel Gorelik, shaliach in Fort Collins, Colorado, has been trying to get a menorah displayed in that city since last Chanukah (see here). Despite having the mayor on his side, and a positive article in the Coloradoan reproduced in Shturem here, unfortunately the bid was unsuccessful (see here).
Rabbi Gorelik still has a lot of fight in him. The follow up post in Shturem here is a summary of the news report on ABC here.
I wish him hatzlocho rabbo in his mission.
This article appeared in Chabad.info - with photos - about the Chanukah party organised by Chabad of the CBD. I liked this photo of Davi Ekman with Lord Mayor John So. That's Menachem Khoen in the background.
It is still over a week until Chanukah but the web sites are appearing thick and fast.
There are a number of good sites with information for both adults and children and many of them feature games etc to keep the kids busy during the summer holidays.
I have listed them in no particular order:
Chabad.org - A comprehensive site for adults and kids
Aish.com - Tons of info for all
Orthodox Union - Lots of info and some great essays by OU Rabbis
Shema Yisrael - Contains the 5761 & 5762 issues of the Kollel Beis HaTalmud magazine
Holidays on the Net - A bit lightweight but with some stuff for the kids
Torah.org - Nice site
Chazzanut Online - Some interesting info about Maoz Tzur and chazzanut in general
Kids Domain - Holiday fun...
Torah Tots - For the child in all of us
Chanukah.com - shopping as well as some articles
Enjoy!!
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