Happy Hanukkah, Have a Latke

I was looking for a good web-image, and found it. Delish:
South Florida Sun-Sentinel:
Garden Vegetable Latkes



The link is to a recipe by some chef.

Latke - is Yiddish for a veggie pancake made of potatoes. In Hebrew it's called Leviva.

Hanukkah news roundup

ynetnews.com:Chabad orphan lights Hanukkah candle

Father of Rivkah Holtzman, who was killed along with her husband Gavriel in Mumbai, holds menorah-lighting ceremony. Murdered couple's son plays with dreidel under a Chabad flag

Hanukkah under continuous terror attacks: from israel-national-news, Be’er Sheva Mayor Preparing for Rockets
CBN: Jews Around the World Celebrate Hanukkah

Jews in Israel and around the world have started celebrating Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish holiday that commemorates a stunning military victory over the ancient Syrian Greeks.

A Hanukkiah (Hanukkah menorah) was lit in Sderot just hours after a rocket fired by Palestinians in Gaza scored a direct hit on a house in the southern Israeli town, scattering rubble and furniture inside.

A six-month temporary truce between Israel and Hamas expired on Friday. The truce had "frayed" since early November, with rocket fire on Israeli towns increasing in recent days.

Eli Goldsobol, a British Jew at the lighting ceremony said, "We are not moving from Sderot. We're going to stay and we're going to fight. Happy Hanukkah to everybody."

Meanwhile, over a thousand people took part in celebrations in the Russian capital, Moscow.

The traditional lighting of an eight-meter (yard) high Hanukkiah took place just outside the Kremlin.

Meaningless FYI-s about this holiday

:
* The story of Hanukkah is not biblical (not the Hebrew bible at least). Tradition says that there was a Jewish scroll telling the Maccabbee story, however the scroll that did exist and was found was written in Greek and is assumed to be a translation from Hebrew. It is accepted as Jewish history. The earliest known translation to Hebrew is from 1885. For more info on that, you can read in Hebrew on wikipedia. (other sources as well)

* After lighting the candle, my 3 year old daughter said - "But where's the Christmas tree?". She's 3, eventually she'll get it.

* For some reason, every Jewish holiday has it's own special food - and Hanukkah is the holiday of the deep fried food. It doesn't make much sense to claim that a miracle involving olive oil for lighting a temple would require you to get a ton of calories and zits - but if holiday tradition demands it - I happily indulge.

* Hanukkah - unlike most Jewish holidays - is a celebration of a Jewish military victory over the Greek Antiocheu in the era following Alexander the great's conquests and before the expansion of the Roman empire. So, dear leaders of Israel, in my view - Hanukkah is no time to wimp out. Rockets are falling over children's bedrooms and you're just threatening - it's go time.

* I used to wonder... The leaders of the Jewish rebelling army were called "Maccabbee".


By some odd coincidence - I remember that many years, around Hannukkah - the basketball team "Maccabbee Tel Aviv" would play against some Greek team. I don't know if that "tradition" is kept...

More about Hanukkah:
Hanukkah at Chabad.org
Hanukkah at wikipedia
Hanukkah at about.com