Third Day of Hannukah

On Sunday Evening after tithing settlement and home teaching we were finally able to start our Hannukah celebrations. Andrew was somewhat concerned that this would be against our religion, but I assured him there would be no real observance since we aren't Jewish and aren't serious about it, it's just more of a learning and gaining knowledge thing for Zack. We have the prayer that is said when the Menorah is lit, but we don't have a Menorah and we didn't say the prayer. I still think it made Andrew slightly nervous - I think of it as expanding our horizons.

So I made some latkes (these are not a picture of mine. Mine were much more atteractive and tasted pretty darn good) and we had sour cream and pear sauce because I had no applesauce. Zack was not into the sour cream on his potatoes. Thank goodness he didn't have to get out the ketchup and pour it over the latkes , which some people may have done, but he did sprinkle on some extra salt. There's just something about fried potatoes and salt going together. Then we took turns telling one thing we knew about the tribe of Judah. Zack had studied recently and was able to tell us a few things. Por ejemplo - did you know that the prophet Isaiah was from the tribe of Judah? Also, the lion is a symbol of Judah like the star of David is for the Jews. Judah was the fourth son of Jacob and Leah and received a birthright and a patriarchal blessing from his father. His posterity was blessed that they would keep their identity and not be lost like the other tribes. And most importantly, the Savior of the world would come from the tribe of Judah. A great blessing indeed!

We lit the menorah - I love the Menorah in this picture; it is so beautiful. The menorah represents the vats of oil that were lit in the temple. And the eight candles represent the eight days that the oil miraculously burned. Thus, the celebration of lights!
On sunday night Zack's "gelt" was a set of four Christmas tree ornaments each with a scene of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem.

In North America especially, Hanukkah gained increased importance with many Jewish families in the latter half of the twentieth century, including large numbers of secular Jews, who wanted a Jewish alternative to the Christmas celebrations that often overlap with Hanukkah. Though it was traditional to give "gelt" or money coins to children during Hanukkah, in many families this has changed into gifts in order to prevent Jewish children from feeling left out of the Christmas gift giving. Last night after lighting the Menorah, Zack received the movie "The nativity story" and we watched it for family home evening.

This morning we had bagels and cream cheese - a nod to Jewish ftraditions for the day. And until Sunday we will continue lighting the candles every sundown. So far, Zack seems to be enjoying our little Hannukah activities. I like learning more and more about the whole thing. Very interesting. Merry Christmas to all til my next post.