This webpage was generated automatically. To view the article in its initial site, you can visit the link below:
https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/holidays/2024/12/23/phoenix-new-hanukkah-traditions/76261400007/
and if you desire to have this article taken down from our platform, please get in touch with us
Jewish mom decorates her home to help make Hanukkah fun for the kids
Hanukkah is always in competition with Christmas for Jewish families. Melanie Herschorn decorates her house to make the holiday exciting for her kids.
Hanukkah, typically aligning with the Christmas season, commences on Christmas Day this year, intensifying the challenge of not drawing comparisons between the two.
“Hanukkah isn’t precisely a significant holiday, but its importance has been exaggerated due to its proximity to Christmas,” stated Melanie Herschorn, a Phoenix resident for 12 years, who identifies as Jewish. “It’s incredibly challenging to compete with the enthusiasm surrounding Christmas.”
The grandeur of Christmas can highlight Jewish sentiments of being an outsider, Herschorn noted. This is precisely what she aimed to protect her children from feeling when she observed her first Hanukkah as a parent.
“As soon as I became a parent, I realized that I had the ability to make it immensely exciting and enjoyable for my children,” Herschorn said. “To ensure that Hanukkah is on par with Christmas and to help them not feel like outsiders, which is a sentiment we, as Jews, a very small minority globally, often experience.”
Hanukkah spans eight nights, commemorating the tale of oil that lasted well beyond its expected duration, illuminating the Temple in Jerusalem after a Jewish resistance succeeded in expelling Syrians from the city in 168 BCE.
“Hanukkah genuinely symbolizes hope and miracles,” said Marcy Lewis, a lifelong Phoenix resident. “Many (Jewish) holidays are not that joyous and this one is just fun.”
Lewis has numerous joyful Hanukkah traditions, commencing with a custom her family has upheld since before her birth.
Hanukkah Harry is a contemporary addition to family customs
When Lewis’ elder sister was born, a friend of her mother crafted a stocking featuring a Jewish star along with her sister’s name embroidered. Her mother cherished the gift so much that when Lewis, and subsequently her younger sister, arrived, the friend created individualized Jewish star stockings for them.
“Thus, we hung our stars above the fireplace. And hence, Hanukkah Harry was born,” Lewis recounted.
The figure of Hanukkah Harry first emerged in a 1989 SNL sketch. In the performance, Hanukkah Harry substitutes for a sick Santa Claus, delivering trousers, socks, chocolate coins, and a dreidel to children, much to their dismay. Originally a satirical character meant to poke fun at sentimental Christmas specials, he has now become a part of Jewish American folklore.
As a child, Lewis was unaware of Hanukkah Harry’s origins. He was merely the enigmatic figure who visited each night of Hanukkah, leaving behind small gifts of nail polish or pencils for her and her sisters. Coincidentally, her grandfather’s name was Harry.
“My mom had a photo of my grandfather, whom I do not remember,” Lewis shared. “We always believed that Hanukkah Harry resembled my grandpa from that picture.”
Upon her marriage, Lewis painted her and her husband’s names on dreidel-shaped stockings. After each of her two sons was born, she included additional stockings.
One particular year, her son decided he wished to catch Hanukkah Harry during his visit.
“My son devised a clever plan as he matured, setting up his iPod to record and caught me in the act,” Lewis laughed. “I swiftly grabbed his iPod and locked myself in the bathroom to erase the footage.”
Although her sons are older now, aged 20 and 24, not much has altered apart from the new dreidel stockings that Lewis has included for each of their long-term companions.
“Westill celebrate Hanukkah Harry annually. “It’s become our enjoyable little family custom,” Lewis remarked.
Eager for more? Subscribe to Dining with azcentral.
Hanukkah is an enjoyable opportunity to educate the community about Jewish customs
Having previously taught at a Jewish preschool, Lewis is deeply passionate about Jewish cultural education. She inherited her zeal for teaching from her parents—one of her earliest memories of Hanukkah was when her father would visit her classroom at Madison Simis Elementary School to share the story of Hanukkah’s history.
He’d bring a menorah for the class to illuminate and a dreidel for them to play with. There are numerous tales regarding the meaning behind the dreidel, with the primary one being that Jews used it to disguise their studying of the Torah as if they were merely playing a gambling game.
“It was so cool, having your dad come in to teach about the holiday because not everyone was knowledgeable about Hanukkah,” Lewis mentioned.
Lewis began her rendition of her dad’s classroom visits when her son entered kindergarten.
One day, her son returned home from school inquiring about who Jesus was. Before she could respond, the phone rang with a call from one of his friend’s parents. “His friend’s mom was like, ‘How do I explain Hanukkah to my son?’” Lewis recounted. “It was like they both asked at once.”
The two young boys engaged in a discussion during recess about their holiday traditions. This moment motivated Lewis to start hosting a Hanukkah celebration to familiarize her son’s friends with the holiday.
During the gathering, attendees enjoyed dishes like latkes and jelly donuts—fried delicacies that commemorate the miracle of the oil—and Lewis instructed them on how to play the dreidel. They continue to hold this celebration each year, much to the joy of their friends.
“The children always ask, ‘When is our Hanukkah party?’” Lewis stated.
Providing her children with the Hanukkah celebrations she never experienced
Melanie Herschorn’s experience was quite different—her childhood Hanukkah festivities were characterized by a notable absence of cheer.
She has resided in Phoenix for 12 years but was raised in Toronto. She clarified that while her father purportedly descended from a lineage of rabbis spanning 28 generations, her mother was a secular Jew. Consequently, Hanukkah was not a significant occasion in her family during her upbringing in Toronto.
“We lit candles and received a gift. That was all,” Herschorn shared.
Nonetheless, Herschorn cherished the holiday as a child and absorbed many of the traditions through the Hebrew day school she attended.
Once she became a mother, she aimed to provide her children with the Hanukkah she never experienced, filling the holiday with as much joy and excitement as possible. Herschorn particularly enjoys adorning her home. She has glittery Hanukkah pillows, a menorah for every family member, and even a bandana for the dog.
“The aim is to make our home resemble a Hanukkah wonderland,” she expressed. “The entire house transforms into a stunning, extravagant display of Hanukkah.”
There is a deeper intention behind her decorations. Herschorn wants her children to feel a sense of fulfillment in their Jewish identity. When her daughter was young, she asked if any Disney princesses were Jewish. Herschorn had to respond, unfortunately, no.
“Many Jewish children, including myself, grappled with an inability to relate,” Herschorn explained. “It’s enjoyable to feel acknowledged.”
Cultivating enthusiasm for Jewish customs among her children, now aged 10 and 13, is how Herschorn perpetuates her family’s cultural and religious legacy.
“There aren’t many Jewish individuals in the world. After 6 million were lost (during the Holocaust), the population isn’t expanding,” Herschorn remarked. “Raising my children as Jews was crucial to me for that reason.”
Bittersweet recollections of previous Hanukkahs: ‘We would celebrate for hours’
Phoenix inhabitant Tali Toncray is just beginning to navigate how she wishes to commemorate Hanukkah as a new parent distant from her extended family.
Three generations of the Toncray family originated from Mexico after her great-grandparents escaped Europe during WWII. Toncray attended a Jewish elementary institution in Mexico City, which meant all her friends were Jewish. Furthermore, she was surrounded by the offspring of her parents’ acquaintances, who had attended school together, and whose grandparents were well acquainted with her grandparents, and so forth.
She became aware that Jewish individuals were a minority only after transferring to middle school and discovering that not everyone’s ancestors had endured the Holocaust.
The Jewish community in Mexico was closely knit. Therefore, when Toncray expressed her desire to attend college in the U.S., her parents, especially her father, found it challenging to accept. Among the few relatives who had moved abroad, none had departed at such a young age.
“I simply couldn’t envision a future in Mexico, especially since I aspired to be a veterinarian, a dream I had nurtured since childhood,” Toncray shared. “Regrettably, in Mexico, veterinarians are often regarded as merely glorified dog walkers.”
Eventually, her parents accepted her decision, and Toncray enrolled at Oregon State University before relocating to Phoenix, where she has resided for the past decade.
Since Toncray and her husband, who isn’t Jewish, adopted a baby last year, she has been faced with the challenge of raising her daughter.apart from the extensive family network that assisted her in learning Jewish traditions during her childhood.
She recalls the Hanukkahs of her childhood when her grandmother’s residence would be filled with relatives celebrating well into the wee hours. “There were cousins like five generations removed that I had never encountered in my life,” Toncray shared. “And we would just celebrate for hours.”
On the inaugural night of Hanukkah, the family would attend temple for a Torah reading. After that, they would return home for a substantial seder dinner, which, while associated with Passover, also pertains to the rituals of lighting the menorah. Her grandmother was the one preparing the grand feast, and she would enlist Toncray to help by grating apples.
The meal also featured contributions from each family member reading from the Haggadah, a script that outlines the seder’s rituals.
“My grandfather would guide the readings, and we would proceed down the table with each family member reading a paragraph in turn,” Toncray reflected. “When certain prayers or songs were presented, everyone would chime in before continuing with the readings.”
In Phoenix, Toncray has struggled to locate a similarly close-knit Jewish community.
“The life my daughter will experience is vastly different from the one I encountered, where being born into the Jewish community guaranteed attendance at a Jewish school,” Toncray mentioned.
In spite of the contrasts in their upbringings, Toncray desires for her daughter to feel a bond with her ancestry. Once she reaches an appropriate age, Toncray intends to expose her to Jewish activities for new parents and their children. Furthermore, she will uphold the custom of celebrating Jewish holidays, Hanukkah included.
Respecting the past and forging new customs
Even though all three women adopt varied approaches, they are united by a common dedication to craft a memorable Hanukkah experience for their children.
Toncray is still determining exactly how she will replicate the joyful celebrations she experienced as a child for her daughter. “I do want her to have some connection with being part Jewish so that she understands a bit more of her narrative,” she stated.
This year she intends to adorn the home, prepare traditional Ashkenazi dishes like matzo ball soup, latkes, and kugel, and light the menorah each evening. She has reconciled with how her Hanukkah festivities have transformed, particularly since many of her relatives in Mexico City have relocated or now celebrate with their spouses’ families.
“Even if I wished to make a trip back home at some time and celebrate with everyone, I don’t believe it would resemble how it once was,” Toncray acknowledged. “But I’m optimistic about recreating something akin to that with our chosen family.”
As for Herschorn, this year she plans to welcome her parents for Hanukkah. She is eager to showcase her decorating efforts. “I see it as a fantastic opportunity to embellish my house in ways I never could as a child,” Herschorn expressed. “I have discovered a method to generate enthusiasm around something that might easily be overlooked.”
Lewis is of the opinion that Jewish holidays hinge on the transmission of traditions. Her family’s yearly gathering remains a means to educate and connect with their broader Phoenix community, and she feels a sense of pride that her sons continue to observe Hanukkah as adults. With one having moved out, he even desires dreidel stockings in his home for Hanukkah Harry to visit.
“I’m proud of my husband and myself for instilling this in our children,” Lewis reflected. “I know that they are experiencing a bit of Judaism in their lives.”
Reach the journalist at [email protected]. Follow @Reialirui on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This page was generated programmatically; to view the article at its original location, you can visit the link below:
https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/holidays/2024/12/23/phoenix-new-hanukkah-traditions/76261400007/
if you want to remove this article from our site, please reach out to us.
