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Yiddish Book Center, Hanukkah

December 7, 2023 - December 15, 2023

Chanukah, oy khaneke!

Who knew that “menorah,” the familiar American Jewish term for the Hanukkah candelabrum, comes from Ladino? In Yiddish, the nine-branched candle holder is a khanike-lempl (Hanukkah lamp), and in Israeli Hebrew it’s a hanukia. That’s not the only linguistic confusion surrounding the Festival of Lights. According to Dovid Braun, “there are more English spellings of Chanukah than there are branches on the menorah. . . . The oy of the age-old Yiddish song ‘Khaneke, oy khaneke!‘ is on the one hand a shout of enthusiasm towards this joyous festival, and on the other a plaintive exclamation about spelling woes.”

Read the article

Hanukkah Foods and the Stories Behind Them

In a conversation with Lisa Newman, Tina Wasserman, author of Entrée to Judaism: A Culinary Exploration of the Jewish Diaspora and Entrée to Judaism for Families: Jewish Cooking and Kitchen Conversations with Children, shares recipes and tells everything you ever wanted to know about traditional Hanukkah cuisine.

Listen to the conversation

“Drey dreydele (Spin Dreidel)”: An Interactive Assignment

Moyshe Oysher (1906–1958) was a celebrated khazn (cantor) and an irrepressible performer of Yiddish songs. Asya Vaisman Schulman, the director of our Yiddish Language Institute, borrows one of Moyshe Oysher’s favorite Hanukkah songs to create an imaginative, interactive exercise for the whole family, complete with original lyrics, transliteration, and Asya’s own translation.

A creative Hanukkah ‘homework’ assignment

“Hanukkah Highlights”

Songs and Memories from the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project

Jews love telling stories about Hanukkah. Here’s a reel of some of our favorites.

Watch the Hanukkah highlights

Details

Start:
December 7, 2023
End:
December 15, 2023

Venue

Yiddish Book Center
1021 West Street
Amherst, MA 01002
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Phone
(413) 256.4900
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