The best place to experience Chanukah is Israel. Everyone is happy and wishes you a happy Chanukah. There is a huge menorah on every street corner and every store and restaurant has a lot menorah in the window. Every bakery sells donuts, or suffaniyot, as the Israelis call them, for the holiday. You don’t feel Chanukah the same way in America the way you feel it here. Aroma, the coffee shop here, normally gives out chocolate with their coffee. However, at this time of year, they give out Chanukah gelt (Chanukah chocolate coins). The busses say happy Chanukah on them, the stores are playing Chanukah music. It’s a feeling that you can get from no where else in the world.

 

Day two of Chanukah my school in Jerusalem took us to Bar Ilan university to hear a few speakers on Chanukah. Later that night I went to Mamilla mall for candle lighting. They had a special needs choir singing the traditional songs for Chanukah. It was really beautiful and moving. After that, my friends and I went to dinner at Roladin in mamilla. Roladin is quite famous around Chanukah time because they have the most delicious and exotic sufganiyot. 

 

For Shabbat Chanukah I was in Modi’in. This had additional meaning because the story of Chanukah took place in Modi’in. Modi’in has a tradition to have Friday night services at the ruins of the ancient synagogue on Shabbat Chanukah. I joined in on this beautiful tradition. It was awesome and mystical standing in the dark in old ruins, praying on Shabbat Chanukah. 

 

Sunday, day five of Chanukah, I went with a friend to tel aviv, to the Palmach museum. The Palmach was the elite striking force of the “Hagana” – one of the underground military organizations of the Jewish community that helped to establish Israel. The museum took you through the history in interactive exhibits with an IDF soldier as a tour guide. It was amazing to see the miracles of the Palmachs’s battles, while we celebrated the miracles of Chanukah.

 

Day six of Chanukah, we had a speaker come to talk to us about Sderot. They did this to prepare us for the following day when we would put on a Chanukah carnival for the children in Sderot. Later that day, I went to a winery in Gush Etzion with my friends. It was gorgeous. Following that we went to the old train station in Jerusalem for dinner.

 

Day seven of Chanukah we went to Sderot to volunteer. We made a Chanukah carnival for all the children there in a building built by the Jewish National Fund. (St, Louis made it on the wall of sponsors!) It’s a huge bomb shelter with a playground, rock climbing, televisions, and many more activities for the kids. It gives the kids a safe way to play, for them to forget the fears outside. Sderot is 1km from the Gaza Strip, it has been the target of more the 24,000 rockets from the Gaza Strip since Israel gave over land to Gaza in 2005. Over seventy percent of the children in sderot suffer from at least one form of post traumatic stress. We were able to give them a fun filled day. It was really an amazing feeling to give back to them. Later that evening I went to the kotel, the Western Wall, for candle lighting. People danced and sang as they lit all eight candles, it was beautiful. After that I headed back to Mamilla for a second candle lighting, this time the candles were being lit by the parents of the 3 boys who were kidnapped this summer. It was quite moving.

 

Day eight of Chanukah I just headed back to school, break was over.

 

For the Shabbat after Chanukah I wanted to do Shabbat in Alon Shvut, in Gush Etzion. We had a place to stay but no place for Shabbat meals. There’s a website called www.anywhereinisrael.org, which has many cities to select from and many choices from a quiet Shabbat to anywhere with good food. I went on the website and signed up hoping I would get a response. It’s not a guaranteed system, you tell them a bit about yourself they send the description to recommended families in different communities and then you wait for a response. Within 24 hours, I had a response and meals for Shabbat! It was amazing, and truly an only in Israel experience. 

 

Keep you posted!