Putting The Ah! Into Hanukkah
Rockland, Mae
PUTTING THE AH! INTO HANUKKAH The New Jewish Yellow Pages Update. MAE ROCKLAND As soon as the Thanksgiving carcass has made its way to the soup kettle, Americans plunge into frenetic activity...
...The people listed below manufacture and/or distribute almost everything you need for a tiny Jewish "House Beautiful...
...The holiday, designed to promote "unity in the family, the community, the nation, and the race," is based on African harvest festivals (the name means "first fruits" in Swahili) and is celebrated from December 26 to January 1. The black experience has inspired a revival of ethnic consciousness among all groups...
...Dollhouse Goodies Box 1193 Merchantville, NJ 08109 Dollhouse Goodies specializes in tiny foods including strudel, bagels (with or-without lox and cream cheese), challah, matzo, pumpernickel, etc...
...We find that when we want to celebrate Hanukkah in a meaningful fashion with our offspring we are at a loss for how to begin...
...The earliest lamps used for Hanukkah were probably the single-wicked pear-shaped ceramic oil lamps commonly used throughout the Mediterranean world...
...For fun they also have the Hebrew Coca Cola poster...
...It is up to us make sure that the new and greater significance of Hanukkah is understood in Jewish terms rather than to let our holiday deteriorate into just another part of the midwinter solstice carnival celebrations...
...These were lined up, adding an additional one each evening, on a pedestal in front of the house...
...Box K Shenorock, NY 10587 "Jewishtamps" By Stu Copans, available exclusively from Mail Order Maven R.F.D...
...For some of us this description may evoke a memory or nostalgia for a pre-T.V...
...With the few exceptions that simply portray the lighting of the Hanukkah lamp, most paintings and prints depict softly lit scenes with the Hanukkah lights aglow in the windows and the family absorbed in a variety of games including chess, cards and, of course, the dreidel...
...Milwaukee, WI 53211 Annette Fettman 1317 N. 57th Street Omaha, NE 68132 Carol S. Kestler 1311 E. Duke Drive Tucson, AZ 85719 David Klass 136 West 24th Street New York, NY 10011 Myrna Nathan 84 Salisbury Road Brookline, MA 02146 Harold Rogovin P.O...
...She will work from a photograph and reproduce you in 1 inch to 1 foot scale or make a dollhouse person from her own set of molds that include her versions of Rosalyn, Amy and Jimmy Carter...
...He made me a delightful little sukkah from a very rough drawing of mine...
...Miniature Homes and Furnishings, Inc...
...By the time the Talmud was compiled, the Temple was once again in ruins and the Jews dispersed...
...Marks Place Fairfax, VA 22030 Hal Silverman 62 Somerstone Road Ossening, NY 10562 Renee Vichinsky 446 12th Street Brooklyn, NY 11215 Rebecca Lynn Wachtel 807 Haines Champaign, IL 61820 Lamps In Hydrastone Harry Green 4735 Mercier Kansas City, MO 64112 Lamps In Metal Frann Addison 100 Cypress Street Watertown, MA 02172 Gunther Aron The Old School House Lamy, NM 87540 Judith Brown 68 Jane Street New York, NY 10014 Annette Hirsh 4126 N. Ardmore Ave...
...Over the centuries the decorative motifs enhancing Hanukkah lamps and the materials from which they have been made have varied enormously relating always to the period, country and temperament of the artist-craftsperson making the lamp...
...MAE ROCKLAND As soon as the Thanksgiving carcass has made its way to the soup kettle, Americans plunge into frenetic activity that does not end until January 2nd when most people finally collapse from hangovers, headaches and unpaid bills, During this time, American Jews are pushed and pulled by the media, by well-meaning friends and colleagues and often— especially—by our own ing popularity of Hanukkah...
...Since prerecorded times people have lit fires to reignite the sun during the winter solstice...
...While Hanukkah is now going through a natural and healthy growth white...
...the interpretations we give them, however, shift and grow to suit the sensibilities of the era...
...Now celebrated nationwide, it is called Kwanza and incorporates many familiar agricultural and midwinter rites, including candle-lighting...
...For all these hundreds of years we have kindled the Hanukkah lights, grateful for a miracle as enduring as a flame...
...Because all of the days of Hanukkah are of equal importance, traditional Hanukkah lamps are designed so that all of the lights are on the same level...
...During times of persecution the lamps moved into the house and now they come and go from interior table to win-dowsill, depending on the friendliness of the community in which we find ourselves...
...Box 25 Everett, MA 02149 Vincent Vasello, the president of Miniature Homes and Furnishings, Inc...
...it wasn't until the Middle Ages that menorah-form Hanukkah lamps were made...
...Write for brochures and price lists and please send stamped self-addressed envelopes...
...either individual character dolls (she made me a delightful "Sam the Forwards-Mann" for my miniature Bronx Candy Store...
...Eighteen hundred years ago the authors of the Talmud looked around and saw that folks were lighting lamps for eight days beginning on the 25th day of the month of Kislev, and they asked: "Is this Hanukkah...
...The cure for "seasonitis" (inflammation of the season) seems to be at hand: play up Hanukkah...
...When Judah and his followers relit the Temple lamp, it was probably a copy of Bezalel's menorah (the original having been lost or melted down in one of the periodic Temple sackings...
...I am proud and happy to present on these pages a sampling of some of the most handsome lamps being made today...
...produces a handsome colored catalog that includes a new page of Jewish items...
...It was reasoned that because the Hanukkah lamp had nine rather than seven branches, was most often made for domestic use and rarely of solid gold, and, because its mode of employment was sufficiently different from that of the Temple original, it was no longer a transgression to make hanukkiot of the menorah type...
...My particular passion is miniatures...
...It would have been inappropriate if not downright dangerous to stress the nationalistic or military aspects of Hanukkah...
...Many people are confused about the difference between the seven branch menorah and the nine-light hanukkiah...
...The wonderful legend of the magic cruse of oil that has been the delight of Jewish youngsters for centuries served to keep the holiday an event for children...
...I had originally planned to end this article with a survey of children's toys with Jewish content suitable for Hanukkah gift giving, but recognizing the deprivation of my peers, instead I prefer to introduce you to some adult playthings with which to make your Hanukkah fun...
...Their ingenious answer has served for generations to link history with legend and Jewish lore with universal practice...
...Eventually Bezalel's menorah was installed in Solomon's Temple...
...For those of you who like your toys a little larger, here are two makers of "executive" dreidels in sterling silver, the designer-manufacturer of super screenprinted stuffed toys (available as kits or already finished), whimsical "Jewishtamps" by Stu Copans for stamp-pad maniacs, and, of course, lovely inexpensive large redwood dreidels from California...
...For when we come to understand the parallels between the Maccabean struggle with the problems of assimilation and related concerns, we can turn our understanding and commemoration of this first recorded battle for religious freedom into joyous celebrations that linger fondly in memory as Passover seders do...
...Everyone needs a midwinter holiday...
...And sure enough, the days start getting longer again...
...It's not too late to have a gorgeous contemporary lamp for this Hanukkah or to commission one for next...
...These days the word "menorah" is often used as a general term to identify either lamp, compounding the general confusion...
...They will also make up custom orders...
...A tree of life aglow with devine light is too powerful as a symbol to be confined to two dimensions...
...Hanukkah has been there for centuries, and is now being retailored to fit contemporary styles...
...But some of the lumps refused to melt, and so we changed the metaphor from melting pot to salad bowl, an image that more appropriately describes our pluralistic society...
...attention Craftshow Chair-people...
...The oldest is the menorah, which symbolically combines the lights of the ancient world's seven planets with the mythological eternal tree of life...
...Betty handles the shop that is stocked with one of the best selections of miniatures around including a good amount of Judaica and Bob creates magnificent houses and individual rooms in his workshop "out back...
...Milwaukee, WI 53211 Judith Kalina Fable Soft Sculpture, Inc...
...In the first century the debate was finally resolved in favor of the school of Hillel, which held that the lights should be increased each night rather than the more austere reverse doctrine advocated by Shammai's followers...
...Until recently it was very hard to find a decent full size Hanukkah lamp let alone one scaled 1 inch to 1 foot...
...The pear-shaped single lamp eventually evolved into an eight-wicked oil lamp with a separate lamp for the shammash...
...she has everything you need for Hanukkah, Passover, bar and bat mitzvah and some multi-purpose items such as needlepointed cushions...
...Thus the scholars found a way to sanction a deeply ingrained folk custom...
...These are not dollhouse miniatures, but measure 2" x 2'/2...
...Once the lamp became a single object, a hanging variation developed and there was a period in which it was the custom to hang it on the doorpost opposite the mezuzah...
...Only the shammash may be higher...
...P.O...
...Catalog is $2.50 Unique Judaica, Limited 601 W. 67th Street Kansas City, MO 64113 The nicest miniatures distributed by Unique Judaica are exquisite porcelain candlesticks, Hanukkah lamps and Seder plates and bowls...
...The Hanukkah lamp has challenged the imagination and skills of today's artists just as it has done in previous centuries...
...Other special conditions in late twentieth century America combine with the religious freedom granted by the Constitution to give impetus to the development of Hanukkah into a major celebration...
...Even when the military victory was still fresh, the spiritual meaning was greater still and needed a fitting ceremony to mark it...
...We are fortunate now in America to be witnessing the birth of an authentic Jewish-American artistic expression...
...The question they were really asking was, why were the Jews imitating the gentiles and lighting midwinter fires...
...With the blanket approval afforded by the Constitution, the impetus of ethnic revival, and the close ties Jews here feel with Israel (where every Israeli, religious or not, celebrates Hanukkah with a full heart because everyone has a Maccabee-like soldier in the family) Hanukkah fills today's need for a joyous holiday expressing dedication to a people and a nation as well as to a religious belief...
...I'm afraid, however, that most of us reading this magazine came of age during the time when Hanukkah was so understated it barely existed or perhaps during that gawky era of the Hanukkah bush, and so we may lack certain positive Hanukkah childhood memories...
...It seems that (although no mention of this is made in the detailed chronicals of the Maccabean wars) when Judah and his men were cleaning up the Temple for the rededication ceremonies they came across a small jar that contained only enough oil to keep the menorah aglow for one day but that miraculously lasted for eight...
...But Christmas is not the only reason for the increastogether and simmer down into an easily digestible puree...
...The oldest one thought to have been made especially for Hanukkah was unearthed in Israel and is believed to be from the first or second century of the common era...
...all 1 inch to 1 foot scale...
...It is curious that the principal ceremonial act in the celebration of Hanukkah—the kindling of lights on eight successive nights—has nothing to do with the historical origins of the holiday...
...Obviously they knew that Hanukkah was a minor holiday begun almost 400 years earlier commemorating the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem (which was desecrated three years earlier by the Hellenized Syrians) by a small band of Jewish guerillas led by the Maccabees—Mattathias and his five sons...
...Last year the New York Times business section pointed out that miniature collecting is now the second largest hobby in the U.S...
...Enjoy...
...Because it is hala-chically forbidden to reproduce the Temple menorah, and because of the distinct Hanukkah ceremony, the hanukkiah followed its own course of development and produced a unique body of religious art objects...
...It is never too late to be enthusiastic about this holiday of light and lightness...
...Despite the fact that, except for a brief period immediately after the Maccabean battles, Hanukkah had always been a minor holiday (and on the religious calendar it still is) every year it becomes more important in the popular imagination...
...Although from the beginning the menorah has been used as a symbol on hanukkiot (as well as on manuscripts, tombstones, etc...
...These well-intended but sad attempts to counter the pressures of the surrounding culture are in part a direct result of our inability to conceptualize the meanings of Hanukkah and our laziness about digging into our own wealth of traditions for ways to make the holiday a richly satisfying experience for all ages...
...Lights have been identified with holiness in Jewish ritual since our earliest history...
...Dreidels in Sterling Ellen Greenfield 22 Canterbury Larfe Roslyn Heights, NY 11577 Annette Hirsh 4126 N. Ardmore Ave...
...in the '60s a neighbor of mine built a six-foot tall dreidel decorated with flashing lights and surrounded with piles of gifts, which she set up annually in her entry-way...
...Lois Hirshberg Mudflat Pottery 25 First Street Cambridge, MA 02141 Lois Hirshberg makes tiny Hanukkah lamps for your dolls...
...Therefore, whatever form a Hanukkah lamp may take, it is essential that the flames remain separate and not blend together to resemble a "pagan" bonfire...
...American Jews don't have to construct a festival to celebrate their sense of identification with their people...
...So the custom, which is fun too, goes on, but the old meanings fade away and new ones replace them...
...Holidays do not change their season...
...In time, the bench form Hanukkah lamp emerged, and later, as we have seen, the menorah form lamp returned to popular usage...
...Names and addresses of the artists are provided...
...At Passover, we make a special effort to explain and interpret the historical and spiritual messages of the holiday to the children...
...In Exodus 37:17 we learn that the devinely inspired Bezalel fashioned the first of these lamps for the desert tabernacle from a single block of gold...
...Barbara Schuckman By Barb 7 Aron Court Bethpage, NY 11714 Barbara Schuckman specializes in a line of unique handmade Judaic miniatures...
...She does, however, lead workshops for children or adults on how to make miniatures and does accept commissions for special projects...
...after stamp and coin collecting), and that it is adults, not children, who spend more than $200 million dollars each year on bits and pieces 1/12 life size...
...if the Jews of the Maccabean era were adapting local firelighting customs in celebrating Hanukkah, they were doing it within an ancient (even then) tradition of using sacremen-tal fire symbolically...
...But in the past few years, just as contemporary craftspeople have begun to develop greater expression in Judaica, so has the field of mini-Judaica begun to grow (sic...
...for it is only when we experience the meaning and enjoyment of the holiday that we can pass along its message in good spirit...
...That is why, says the Talmudic story, from that time on Jews have celebrated Hanukkah by lighting lamps for eight days...
...Box 375 Norwich, VT 05055 The Dreidel Factory 1 Hazel Road Berkeley, CA 94705...
...Wholesale only and retail at certain selected shows...
...Remember them...
...Carol-Lynn Waugh 5 Morrill Street Winthrop, ME 04364 Carol-Lynn Waugh specializes in portrait dolls...
...The Country Mouse River Road Bucksport, ME 14416 Bob and Betty Black are two of my favorite people...
...Sam is just returning from Synogogue with his tallis bag under his arm and stops at the candy store for his morning Yiddish paper), or complete tableaus...
...at Hanukkah we need to make the same effort on behalf of the process, it suffered through some awkward stages in the transition to becoming a major holiday...
...And I am not alone...
...Box 251 Califon, NJ 07830 Ludwig Wolpert The Tobe Pascher Workshop at the Jewish Museum 1109 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10028 Lamps In Wood Elliot Landes and Richard Feldman 1311 East 28th Street Oakland, CA 94606 Katya Miller-Wallin 5829 Colby Street Oakland, CA 94618 Allan Schultz Master's Cabinet Shop RR2 Box 53A Alma, WI 54610 Hanukah and Purim both originated at about the same time, but because of Hanukkah's long quiet period, there are many more old illustrations of Purim celebrations than there are of Hanukkah gatherings...
...In the late 1950s there was a shortlived vogue for "Hanukkah bushes" decorated in blue and adults...
...How about catering the Sisterhood Brunch in mini...
...There are two ceremonially significant lamps in Jewish life...
...Lamps In Clay Edith Fishel 1192 Park Avenue New York, NY 10028 Kathy Goos 37 Francis Avenue Holyoke, MA 01040 Eve Lurie 2736 Forest Avenue Berkeley, CA 94705 Joan S. Mesznik Vessels 254 West 81st Street New York, NY 10024 Lynn Rosen Yetzirah Pottery 1904 W. 49th Street Minneapolis, MN 55409 Ken Rosenfeld Mudflat Pottery 25 First Street Cambridge, MA 02141 Rita Schaefer Schaefer Studios 9125 St...
...A few years ago a new holiday emerged in the black communities of California...
...Like it or not, Hanukkah has made it to the major leagues...
...By carefully defining the manner of kindling the lights, our early sages sought to break whatever links might remain between Jewish custom and those of neighboring cultures...
...Obviously, the pressures of Christmas celebrations have contributed a great deal to this change of status...
...So for centuries the legendary cruse of oil has provided a poetic and inspiring way of celebrating our religious and national survival...
...contact them directly for more information and to see even more lamps...
...I grew up with the image of America as a melting pot, a great land of opportunity in which all the nationalities would come children, who consider themselves victims of Santa-starvation...
...Rose Ann Chasman 6147 N. Richmond Chicago, IL 60659 Multi-talented Rose Ann Chasman doesn't make minis on a regular basis because they are so labor intensive...
...Many contemporary lamps have been made without regard for this latter custom...
Vol. 1 • December 1981 • No. 7
