Knit By A Ten Year Old!

Ruffled Knit Scarf Using Mesh Yarn......Knit By A Ten Year Old!

 It just so happens that knitting scarves from mesh yarn is all the rage with the girls in my daughter's school, so I gave her a ball of this special yarn for Hanukkah, and yesterday she knit herself a scarf. Well, it wasn't exactly what I'd call knitting, as she used her fingers more than the knitting needles, but she did a great job and is so very proud of her accomplishment. And of course, I'll be happy to buy her another ball of yarn, for the sake of encouraging crafting! (Now if I can just get her to learn how to actually knit, I'll be even happier!)

The mesh yarn isn't really yarn exactly, but rather more like trim, but it comes in a skein, and like many other specialty yarns on the market, allows one to create something with amazing texture and interest! And you only need one ball of yarn to make a scarf, so it's a great idea for gift making this winter too!

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Tabletop Torah

God has more in common with a bottle of dish soap than you might think. Or at least Brooklyn-based puppeteer and educator Ora Fruchter wants you to think so.

Through Creatures Teach Torah, Fruchter uses various puppetry methods to explore and teach biblical stories [video trailer here]. One of these methods is object theatre – a school of puppetry developed in Europe in the 1980s in which everyday objects are anthropomorphically transformed into characters. In a world where a fork can be the villain and a slice of coffee cake, the hero, there’s lots of room for interpretation. A simple household object – the way it looks, its real life utility – can be a fresh and unexpectedly provocative way to think about the personalities of the characters in the Torah.

Take Fruchter’s Tabletop Torah performance where Moses is a sponge and God is a bottle of dish soap. Instead of explaining to her multigenerational audiences why this is, Fruchter puts the question to them. In so doing, she hopes audiences can "access the idea that the Torah is theirs to interpret."

So check it out -- just be warned that once you do, your dishpan may never look quite the same to you again.

The Hanukkah I see in children’s books demonstrates families playing dreidel and eating latkes while the menorah shines brilliantly in the window. Then there’s the inevitable illustration of the kids’ utter elation when the parents unveil a bag of gelt night after night.

The scene sounds delightful, but I can’t imagine it’s realistic in all Jewish homes. Let’s be honest: starting in October, lots of Jewish kids obsess over the ”holiday” (aka Christmas) catalogues that arrive daily in mailboxes around the country.

Right or wrong, at some point this tradition of 8 nights of gifts as influenced by Christmas has become part of the Hanukkah many of us know and love.

And yes, yes, yes, I know that letting Hanukkah resemble Christmas undermines the main message of Hanukkah. I don’t need the lecture. My kids go to Chabad every Shabbat morning. They love Shabbat dinners, decorating the Sukkah, and attending ice cream parties for Shavuot. They even know that Hanukkah celebrates the war story of the Maccabees‘ unlikely defeat of the Greeks (and not just the oil lasting for eight days). Nobody would accuse my husband and me of neglecting to pass on a healthy dose of serious Jewish tradition to our children.

Nevertheless, instead of completely trying to fight this Christmas imitation during Hanukkah, I’ve come to embrace it by adding my own practical and reasonable twist to the nightly celebrations. I mean, just because I let my kids open gifts during every night of Hanukkah, it doesn’t mean that the toy section of Target needs to take up temporary residence in my living room.

Trust me, you can do 8 nights of gifts without creating spoiled brats, even if it seems like on a couple of the nights the only thing missing is the eggnog and the tree.

Ideas for a festive but practical Hanukkah:

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Hanukkah Gift Guide 2012: Classic Toys for Kids

There’s no stopping Hanukkah, which is heading our way starting December 8th. If you’re looking for some more classic, well-made toys for your kids, we recommend heading over to one of our favorite online stores, Magic Beans. Here are our eight favorite items, perfect for any night of Hanukkah.

     

 The Melissa & Doug Grocery Basket with Food ($19.99) is a classic gift that any child would put to good use. A variety of highly realistic toy food items are stored in a metal grocery basket. And why do kids like to pretend to shop and cook? Don’t ask! Just go with it!

For something a little less traditional, consider a gift of Neo Tobbles ($27.99). These highly durable and lightweight funky shapes are a great stacking toy for tiny hands.

My First Wooden Ball Track Basic Set ($99.99) is sure to please the toddler in your life. The set’s familiar wooden tracks are mixed with fun, bright blocks. Just don’t expect your house to become as magically clean as the one in that picture.

For the toddler on the go, the Kickboard USA Micro Mini 3-in-1 Scooter ($114.99) is the ultimate vehicle. Designed to grow with your child, the scooter is available in both pink and blue (not that we’re saying which one goes with which gender. Ahem.).

Continue reading to see more great gifts. 

Hanukkah Activities for the Kids, from Games to Giving

Rules for the popular Hanukkah game The Hebrew word for dreidel is sevivon, which, as in Yiddish, means "to turn around." Dreidels have four Hebrew letters on them, and they stand for the saying, Nes gadol haya sham, meaning A great miracle occurred there. In Israel, instead of the fourth letter shin, there is a peh, which means the saying is Nes gadol haya po--A great miracle occurred here.

How to Play Dreidel

Continue reading for how to play.

Babaganewz, a fun website for kids, has Jewpardy! Hanukkah. Test your knowledge and see how well you do.

Watch a video from Sesame Street showing Jewish families celebrating Hanukkah

Mitzvah Projects and Tzedakah Actions for Chanukah 

Commemorate Chanukah this year by helping the environment, aiding the poor, supporting our troops, and more.

Old and New Favorite Hanukkah Gifts For Your Family

Dreidels. More dreidels. And dreidels.

Not that there's anything wrong with those, of course, but fresh spins on playing with the holiday tops, along with Jewish takes on classic games and toys, are everywhere as unique Hanukkah gifts for young people.

For some Jewish families, gathering to play games as the holiday candles burn is part of the eight-day Festival of Lights commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple by the Maccabees after their victory over the Syrians.

But let's face it, spinning a dreidel for money, chocolate or otherwise, can be mind-numbingly dull, for older kids and grown-ups, at least.

That's why the “heebsters” over at Moderntribe.com carry the Spinagogue, a mighty stadium in the center of a Star of David-shaped board. It comes with six different “terrains” for courageous spin-offs between players and has storage for gelt, because — as the box says — “No Gelt, No Glory!” And it has walls, so no watching dreidels fly off the table or under the couch.

Remember Racko, where you slip cards into slots? Try “Parsh-O,” with cards based on the Torah rather than numbers. Or gift “Kosherland,” which is akin to Candy Land, only players pass Bubby, the Kiddush Ocean and Matzah Man instead of a Candy Cane Forest and Gum Drop Mountain.

Yo-yos are fun, yes? Pick up a Yo Bagel. It looks like a bagel, comes in a plastic takeout box and works the same as a regular yo-yo.

There's also Torah Slides and Ladders, the Jewish rendition of Chutes and Ladders, offering a speedy trip to the top of the board for “loving your fellow Jew,” or a sad slide to the bottom for making noise in synagogue.

Have you played the card game Slamwich? There's SCHMEAR! Players build a bagel sandwich instead of the square-bread variety using cards for food slices like the original. In the Jewish version, bad things happen when cards for an old tractor tire or a manhole cover surface.

 Continue reading to learn about more fun Jewish games, books and gifts.

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Real Jewish Ninjas

Yehoshua Sofer is the “Aluf Abir” (Aluf means “champion”) or headmaster of the Abir Warrior Arts school of self-defense in Jerusalem. According to him, Jews have practiced martial arts since biblical times. As Sofer tells it, Abraham‘s father, Terah, was a warlord who worked for the Babylonian king Nimrod–and Abraham designed his own system of self-defense which he taught it to his son Isaac, who passed it to his own son, Jacob.

This brings us to the first significant hand-to-hand combat in the Torah, which takes place between Jacob and a mysterious man who might have been an angel. Later, according to the Abir’s oral tradition, Jacob’s fighting skills were passed down through the tribe of Benjamin, and taught to King David and the Judean kings. Unlike most martial arts, Abir’s technique is both offensive and defensive. The basic moves are modeled after characters in the Hebrew alphabet–for example, gimel is a crouching pose in which the warrior is about to strike, his or her legs forming the shape of the Hebrew letter gimel.

Sofer himself was born to Hasidic parents in Jamaica, in 1958. He trained in several schools of Korean martial arts, and also received instruction from his grandfather, the previous Aluf Abir, who was taught Abir techniques by his Yemenite Jewish ancestors.

Kids Make the Cutest Voters!

Kveller.com asked on its Facebook page for parents to share photos of their kids tagging along to the voting booths, and you sure delivered! Enjoy these photos of our littlest American patriots in action.

For more cute kids voting, visit here.

Distributor Cap Menorah: An un-Kosher Tribute

A Hanukkah menorah made out of a repurposed V8 distributor cap is not kosher, I’ll admit. But it sure is cute, and if you live with a car freak, satisfyingly thematic. The function of a distributor cap is all about fire—or at least sparks: it’s part of the ignition system and it helps distribute or control the path of the current.

And Hanukkah is all about fire, right? The miraculous distribution of that wee bit of fuel?

I chose a V8 (eight cylinder engine) distributor cap because it has 9 holes, and I chose this one because the central hole was higher than rest. A circular menorah is a no-no——we must see a straight line of flames, says the Talmud, lest we miscount them or lest our neighbors imagine a pagan conflagration suited for Mt. Carmel and the minions of Ba’al——but at least my shammash candleholder is positioned in a manner that distinguishes it from the others.

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Gog and Magog: Biblical Supervillians

Every superhero needs a supervillain to measure up against: Superman has Lex Luthor; Professor X has Magneto; Batman has the Joker, and more recently the mysterious strong-man Bane. In the book of Ezekiel, the hero/villain dynamic is embodied by the eponymous prophet and his (and Israel’s) nemeses of biblical proportions: Gog and Magog — a leader and nation that, according to Ezekiel’s prophecy, will attack the Jewish people before the end of times.

Gog and Magog represent one of the most powerful themes in biblical tradition: ancient enemies who will rise up — and ultimately be defeated — during an apocalyptic battle at the end of the world. Gog and Magog are such a compelling trope that they appear in other religious narratives, as well. They’re in the Koran, and in the Christian Book of Revelation.

This supervillain even shows up in the modern-day mythology of comic books, where a bad guy who calls himself Gog is responsible for killing Superman and stealing his powers in the DC Comic Justice Society of America. Watch out, Lex Luthor, Gog is after your job!

Do you read lots of books to your kids before bed? Are you always looking for new titles to add to the collection? And are you interested in instilling some Jewish religious values in your kids?

If so, consider adding one (or all) of these five books to your bedtime routine. Each one teaches the tykes a Jewish value* (even if its not immediately apparent). Lilah Tov!

* These values can all be traced back to the Torah or Jewish scripture. That said, these are human values, too, and each of these books can be understood that way, as well.

1. Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson 

What it’s about: The witch has a broom and a cat and a tall hat and long red braids. On her travels, she meets a dog and a frog and a bird that all ask if they can join her on the broom. The witch happily invites them to hop on. The broom breaks, and then the crew is accosted by a dragon. But the animals band together and save the witch. In gratitude, she builds a souped-up broom with something for everyone.

Why it’s great: The rhymes make for great reading aloud and the pictures are detailed and a little cartoonish, so the kids like them. But mostly, we like this story because the animals all take care of the witch. They repay her generosity by scaring off the dragon and they do it by cooperating.

Why it’s Jewish: The book of Genesis describes Abraham’s hospitality to strangers and defines the Jewish value of hachnasat orchim (welcoming guests). In Judaism, hospitality is a mitzvah, and one that is easily understood by little ones. The witch did not know the dog, bird, or frog, but she willingly invited them onto her broom and even went so far as to renovate her broom to make sure they were comfortable! Similarly, we should encourage our kids to welcome friends new and old into their home (assuming we’ve all been through the stranger-danger talk).

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Yahrzeit for a Dog

In Judaism, the anniversary of a person’s death is called their yahrzeit. On that day, the mourner lights a candle, says the mourner’s kaddish, and reflects on the meaning that the deceased person had in the mourner’s life.
These rituals are, generally, not done for a dog.

If they were, though, Captain’s yahrzeit would be sometime in the beginning of August. He died two years ago under somewhat sketchy circumstances. First things first: Captain wasn’t even my dog. And truth be told, there were plenty of moments when I really didn’t like him. But the fact of the matter is that Captain actually changed the course of my life.

Captain belonged to Jon, who was then a single guy in his 40s living in Manhattan by the 59th Street Bridge. Jon had adopted Captain from the ASPCA almost on a whim in the summer of 2009. Divorced and having recently ended a relationship, Jon decided to fill the quiet void in his life with the unconditional love of a dog. I’d argue that in doing so, he got way more than he bargained for.

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Simchat Torah

WHEN IS SIMCHAT TORAH AND WHY DO WE CELEBRATE IT?

Simchat Torah falls on the last of the two days yom tov at the end of Sukkot, on the 23rd day of Tishrei.

It is the festival where we finish reading the Torah and start again from the beginning. Its name means ‘Rejoicing of the Torah’ [being happy about the Torah].

 WHAT DO WE DO ON SIMCHAT TORAH?

Just like during the seven days of Sukkot and on Shemini Atzeret, on Simchat Torah  people make hakafot (walk or dance in circles) around the bimah of the synagogue carrying the Torah and sometimes flags and caramel apples.

On Simchat Torah the hakafot include special dancing with the Torahs held up in the air. Children often join in and ride on their fathers' shoulders during this.

Honor Members of the Congregation: Chatan Torah and Chatan Bereishit

Each Shabbat and festival, members of the congregation are honored by being called up to read the Torah. This is called being given an aliyah.

On Simchat Torah the aliyot (plural of 'aliyah') are even more special. Two people in the congregation are chosen to be chatanim (bridegrooms): one is called the Chatan Torah (Bridegroom of the Torah/Law) and the other is the Chatan Bereshit (Bridegroom of Genesis).

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Instant Edible Sukkah

Here are a few easy tips about making an edible sukkah from graham crackers and pretzel sticks.  

Construction: Honey Maid graham crackers are ideal.  They break evenly into squares just the right size for building a cube sukkah on a dessert plate. Use the whole rectangle (5″ long) if you are building on a dinner-size paper plate. Yes, they are kosher. Buy a bunch and use them for Sukkot s’mores later. Generic brands crumble when they break, and you will end up with a box full of rejects.

Roof: Snyder’s Pretzel Sticks (kosher) are the perfect length to span a Honey Maid Graham Cracker cube sukkah.  Not rods or dippers, but Sticks.  This year, I could only find them packaged in individual, 100 calorie bags.  If you build a sukkah from the entire graham cracker rectangle, you’ll need to buy pretzel rods, which are longer.

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Onto the Next Jewish Holiday–Sukkot!

Now that the High Holidays are over, we can all relax and take a break from all that Jewish holiday excitement…er… NOT. Sukkot starts this Sunday at sundown and lasts for a whole week.

If you’re not familiar with Sukkot, it’s a festive holiday that features fun activities like hanging out in huts and shaking weird looking fruit. Want to know more? Read our rundown of the Sukkot basics here.

And now the fun part: if you’re building your own sukkah, start decorating with these easy paper chains or an autumnal leaf collage. If you don’t have the time or outdoor space to build a sukkah, try your hand at this miniature representation, which turns into a healthy snack when all is said and done.

As for good eats, these chewy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are a great snack to bring into the sukkah. For the more ambitious chefs, this stuffed pumpkin is quite the crowd pleaser. And if you need a refresher course on how to properly welcome guests into your sukkah, take Grover’s advice.

Connecting Kol Nidre with Bullying

Finding a unique Yom Kippur custom is not easy. Even though I haven't found one that will knock your socks off, that very (literal) image got me thinking. About bullying. Is there a connection between bullying and Yom Kippur?  I think we can create a link by examining the introductory lines framing the Kol Nidre prayer chanted on Yom Kippur eve.  Translated into English, the Cantor -- or whoever is leading the prayers -- says: "By the authority of the Court on High and by authority of the Court down here, by the permission of One Who Is Everywhere and by the permission of this Congregation, we hold it lawful to pray with sinners."

In other words, listen up bullies: despite your actions we are still open to accepting you in our midst. How? Perhaps by showing bullies that Rosh Hashanah-Yom Kippur is a time to examine one's deeds and understand what motivates one's behavior. Once they do that, hopefully they will stop the taunting and be ready to sit by our side on Kol Nidre.

On a personal note, these introductory words were penned by one of my husband's ancestors -- Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg -- in the late 13th century. A century and a half later they were endorsed by the Maharal of Prague (the creator of the Golem). Clearly, these two great Jewish leaders understood that even people who have wronged others are allowed a second chance.

Gmar Hatima Tova.

This article is from the Zvuvi Blog by Tami Lehman-Wilzig