Though we have customs and rituals that give us some degree of a common experience during our holidays, our unique associations with festivals like Chanukah are what we remember most vividly. It's important to remember these traditions and moments from our pasts so we can contemplate why the holidays are important to us. These are some of my memories about Chanukah from when I was growing up. Some are common, some are particular to me.
One of my earliest Chanukah memories was when everyone in my religion school class made a clay chanukiah to use during the holiday. I was about 7 or 8 and it was one of the first things I ever crafted with my hands. I recognize now that this project was an important lesson about Jewish life. We were taught to build something that we could share with our friends and families, a material thing that was as much an experience as a possession. Judaism isn't 100% materialistic, but it also isn't entirely spiritual. There's always a material or somatic component to ritual and the lighting of the chanukiah is a perfect example of this. By making our own chanukiot we took an active role in our faith, accessing ritual with our own two hands and offering it as a shared experience with others.
Of course, for many of us no Chanukah is complete without latkes. I come from an Ashkenazi background, so my mother's were classic potato latkes made from scratch and fried crispy. The taste of them is one of the most evocative sense memories I have. I recall the year in elementary school when my parents agreed to conduct an overview of Chanukah for my entire class. I was one of the Jewish kids in school, so most of the other children didn't know anything about the holiday or about Judaism in general. My mother made a batch of latkes and my father, a lifelong Jewish educator and now a rabbi, explained Chanukah and answered questions in a storytelling presentation. It was nice to see the other kids enjoy my holiday with me, an experience I never had outside of temple before.
When I got older all the schools still had holiday parties on the last day before winter break but the concept didn't stick so well with categorically obstinate creatures like teenagers. In middle school a large part of that day was spent just sitting around in classrooms waiting for the bell to ring. We weren't so interested in theme games and crafts as we used to be. I always remembered to bring a dreidel with me on those days. It was fun to teach the other kids how to play and it passed the time. In an ironic twist, some of the teachers made it against the rules for us to play because they learned that it was a gambling game, so we had to spin in secret. In times when studying Torah was against the laws of occupying powers, Israelites disguised their rituals by pretending they were gathering to gamble with the dreidel.
These are just a few stories about Chanukah from when I was growing up. Every year is full of more, but right now I'm more interested in your stories. If you have any special Chanukah stories, you're welcome to share them in our comments section. Chag Sameyach and Shalom for the rest of your holiday.