Brisket and Jelly Donuts

This morning my wife rolled out of bed at 7 am to put a brisket in the slow cooker. She then fed our cat and when he was done eating, she sent him in to wake me, which he did willingly. Twenty minutes later we were on our way to Star Donuts in Draper to pick up a half dozen jelly donuts. Now, I will tell you that as we venture into our late seventies, we don’t see 7 am very often. I do wake that early once a week to take care of cats at Best Friends Animal Society, but that is about it for early rising. So, did we have a sudden craving for Brisket and Jelly Donuts? Nope. It is the second night of Hannukah and we are having friends for a traditional Hannukah dinner. Jelly Donuts, you say? I’ll get to that in a minute.

Many non-Jews (and some Jews) think of Hannukah as the Jewish Christmas. In fact, we have one house down the street that has a full-sized Rabbi in blue robes, an eight-foot high inflatable menorah, a giant dreidel with a face looking out of the handle, as well as three other inflatable character in yamulkas.   And blue and white lights everywhere. Yes, if you are unfamiliar with menorahs, dreidels and kippah, I’ll get back to those when I get back to jelly donuts. Most Jews don’t not put-up elaborate decorations or try to compete with Christmas because Hannukah is actually a rather minor holiday on the Jewish calendar. A Hannukah bush, that is a tree with ornaments, probably blue and white, for Hannukah is not a real thing in Judaism, although some Jews do it to keep up with the eight-foot tree in the window across the street. Many rabbis and Jews disapprove of trying to make the holiday into a Jewish Christmas just to keep up with the Joneses.

So, what exactly is Hannukah? According to Wikipedia, Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. The festival is observed by lighting the candles of a candelabrum with nine branches, commonly called a menorah. One branch is typically placed above or below the others and its candle is used to light the other eight candles. This unique candle is called the shammash. Each night, one additional candle is lit by the shammash until all eight candles are lit together on the final night of the festival. Other Hanukkah festivities include singing Hanukkah songs, playing the game of dreidel (4-sided top used to play for small prizes such as candies), and eating oil-based foods, such as latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (there’s those jelly donuts!).  A kippah, by the way, is the skull cap Jews wear when in the temple.

When our friends arrive for dinner tonight, they will find a Christmas tree and three menorahs because I was raised Catholic, and my wife is Jewish. We have celebrated both fifty-four years, and though Christmas may be grander than our modest observance of Hannukah, both are equally precious in our life. So, Happy Hannukah to all who celebrate these eight days, and to those who do Christmas, an early Merry Christmas.

 

Explore posts in the same categories: holidays

Tags: Hannukah, holidays

You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.