Every holiday contains an element of nostalgia, memories of past celebrations with family, friends and community. But there\u2019s something truly special about the memories associated with Chanukah, and there are a number of reasons why this may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, there\u2019s just something cosy about wintertime and Chanukah is the only holiday we celebrate during this season. Almost everyone loves cuddling up in a warm jumper with a piping hot cup of tea or cocoa. There\u2019s also the mystical feeling of being in a darkened room illuminated by the warm glow of candles. And the food! Nothing beats the aroma and flavour of deliciously crisp latkes (levavot<\/em>). But then there are also the doughnuts (sufganiyot<\/em>) and the chocolate gelt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In short, while Chanukah itself might be a rather minor holiday, it has understandably come to occupy a significant place in our collective conscience because of all the wonderful memories associated with it. And each year offers a chance to create new memories and establish new traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year I had my first experience of Belsize\u2019s Chanukah Market. I had no idea what to expect and couldn\u2019t believe how truly wonderful it was. The food! The music! The food! The knickknacks! Have I mentioned the food?! As wonderful as the event was, I realised that what was truly special about it was the nostalgia that was on offer: sweets and treats from the continent, a love of which has been passed down for generations; familiar festive songs; affordable gifts that can bring a bit of joy to our loved ones; and most importantly, the warm embrace of community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Judaism is a religion deeply rooted in memory \u2013 sometimes those memories are more theoretical and academic, other times they\u2019re more visceral. What makes Chanukah special is not so much a deeply religious experience, but rather those deeply held memories that have come to define so much of who we are: a people that values family, friends, tradition, and \u2013 of course \u2013 food!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rabbi Gabriel Botnick on what makes this time of year special Every holiday contains an element of nostalgia, memories of past celebrations with family, friends and community. But there\u2019s something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rabbis-message"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willing-lavender-dog.synagogue.org.uk\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willing-lavender-dog.synagogue.org.uk\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willing-lavender-dog.synagogue.org.uk\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willing-lavender-dog.synagogue.org.uk\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willing-lavender-dog.synagogue.org.uk\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7256"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/willing-lavender-dog.synagogue.org.uk\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7257,"href":"https:\/\/willing-lavender-dog.synagogue.org.uk\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256\/revisions\/7257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willing-lavender-dog.synagogue.org.uk\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willing-lavender-dog.synagogue.org.uk\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willing-lavender-dog.synagogue.org.uk\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willing-lavender-dog.synagogue.org.uk\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
And as children, it\u2019s a rare treat to stay up past dark, with the added excitement and anticipation of exchanging gifts and the joy of spinning the dreidel (sevivon<\/em> in Hebrew) with your loved ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n