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A review by emiged
Hanukkah Around the World by Tami Lehman-Wilzig, Vicki Wehrman
4.0
Around 200 B.C., the Syrian Empire defeated Egypt and gained control of Judea and the surrounding region. About thirty years later, King Antiochus IV laid siege to Jerusalem, killed thousands of Jews, defiled the temple by erecting an altar to Zeus and sacrificing pigs on it, and allowed his soldiers to plunder and loot the city. Judah Maccabee, the son of the priest Mattathias, led a revolt that eventually liberated the Jews from Syrian rule. In order to light the temple menorah and rededicate the temple, pure olive oil was needed, but only enough was found for one day's worth of light. Miraculously, the oil lasted eight days instead.
Hanukkah, also called Chag Ha'or, or the holiday of light, is celebrated every year to commemorate this miracle, as well as the miracle that a small band of poorly armed Jews was able to defeat the large and well-trained Syrian army. This delightful children's book, Hanukkah around the World, highlights how far-flung Jewish communities participate in remembering these miracles annually by using vignettes of families in different countries.
In Uzbekistan, family feasts are held every night of the eight-day span of Hanukkah. Jews in Turin, Italy, gather at the synagogue four months before Hanukkah to commemorate the day the temple was destroyed and prepare for the celebration of its rededication. Hanukkah falls during the summer in Sydney, Australia, and is celebrated with a large outdoor festival. For one of my favorite traditions covered, Tunisian Jews honor Jewish heroines on the seventh day of Hanukkah with a feast only for women and girls and stories of Judith, Sarah, Rachel, Miriam, and others. Celebrations in Modi'in, Israel; New York City; Istanbul, Turkey; and Warsaw, Poland are described as well. Each chapter also includes the recipe for a traditional Hanukkah dish from that country – sufganiot, burmelos, and jarkoff join the more familiar potato latkes and decorated sugar cookies.
My children have been begging to try out some of the Hanukkah traditions they learned from this book. Luckily, we still have plenty of potatoes from our garden to make latkes, but I'd better go find some gelt for the dreidel games! Happy Hanukkah!
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
Hanukkah, also called Chag Ha'or, or the holiday of light, is celebrated every year to commemorate this miracle, as well as the miracle that a small band of poorly armed Jews was able to defeat the large and well-trained Syrian army. This delightful children's book, Hanukkah around the World, highlights how far-flung Jewish communities participate in remembering these miracles annually by using vignettes of families in different countries.
In Uzbekistan, family feasts are held every night of the eight-day span of Hanukkah. Jews in Turin, Italy, gather at the synagogue four months before Hanukkah to commemorate the day the temple was destroyed and prepare for the celebration of its rededication. Hanukkah falls during the summer in Sydney, Australia, and is celebrated with a large outdoor festival. For one of my favorite traditions covered, Tunisian Jews honor Jewish heroines on the seventh day of Hanukkah with a feast only for women and girls and stories of Judith, Sarah, Rachel, Miriam, and others. Celebrations in Modi'in, Israel; New York City; Istanbul, Turkey; and Warsaw, Poland are described as well. Each chapter also includes the recipe for a traditional Hanukkah dish from that country – sufganiot, burmelos, and jarkoff join the more familiar potato latkes and decorated sugar cookies.
My children have been begging to try out some of the Hanukkah traditions they learned from this book. Luckily, we still have plenty of potatoes from our garden to make latkes, but I'd better go find some gelt for the dreidel games! Happy Hanukkah!
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.