2020 Jewish Deaf Congress Eighth Day Hanukkah Virtual Celebration – Roz Rosen
Category Hanukkah Vlogs
Jewish Deaf Congress
2020 Jewish Deaf Congress Seventh Day Hanukkah Virtual Celebration – Suzy Rosen Singleton
2020 Jewish Deaf Congress Sixth Day Hanukkah Virtual Celebration – Dr. Lynn Jacobowitz
2020 Jewish Deaf Congress Fifth Day Hanukkah Virtual Celebration – Sharon Hayes
2020 Jewish Deaf Congress Fourth Day Hanukkah Virtual Celebration – The Seitchik Family: Sofia, David, Eitan and Samuel
2020 Jewish Deaf Congress Third Day Hanukkah Virtual Celebration – The Axelrod Family: Corey, Jenny, Ryder and Jordan
2020 Jewish Deaf Congress Hanukkah Virtual Celebration – Steve Weiner
2020 Jewish Deaf Congress First Night Hanukkah Virtual Celebration – Douglas Ridloff and his family
Amy Cohen Efron’s Hanukkah Vlog
Hanukkah Greetings, Everyone!
The Jewish Deaf Congress received permission from Amy Cohen Efron to share with you her heart-touching experiences growing up as a Jewish Deaf child in New York City.
Turn on the captions in settings if desired.
Were your experiences growing up like or different from Amy’s?
Interpreters are usually not hired for temple services. Lets work together to change this!
May 2020 be a better year for everyone.
Best wishes
Roz Rosen
JDC Co-Chair www.jewishdeafcongress.com
Chanukah Story Ellen Roth
Hanukkah greetings everyone from Jewish Deaf Congress.
What is Hanukkah? (It is also spelled as Chanukah. And a number of other ways.)
Why is it such an amazing holiday? Why is it known as the Festival of Lights?
Rabbi Ellen Roth explains the story and the miracle.
Watch her narrate the story here…
The vlog transcript follows below.
Enjoy. May the Light be with you.
Happy Hanukkah.
Roz
JDC Co-Chair
The Great Chanukah Story
by Rabbi Ellen Roth December 2019
Happy Chanukah.
Chanukah is a simple story and is known as the Festival of Lights. We gather together as friends, family and loved ones for great holiday cheer and share presents and enjoy potato laktes. And, lighting the menorah.
But behind all this is a great story. This festival celebrates a great victory of the Maccabees over the larger Syrian army during the 2nd century, B.C. Also, a miracle happened during this time, where just a day’s supply of oil allowed the menorah in the rededicated Temple in Jerusalem to remain lit for eight days.
Maccabees, after Antiochus issued his decrees forbidding Jewish religious practice, a rural Jewish priest from Modin, Mattathias the Hasmonean, sparked the revolt against the Seleucid Empire by refusing to worship the Greek gods.
War began and the Jews won. This was an important event; Jews rose up against the Greek-Syrian rulers in the Maccabean Revolt and drove them out of Jerusalem. Jews decided to celebrate with a re-dedication of the 2nd temple in Jerusalem. As Jews celebrated their victory over a tyrant king and rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, a small quantity of oil remained to light the Temple’s menorah which would last for only a day. But instead, the menorah oil miraculously lasted eight days. Why 8? Because a person had to walk to the nearest town for 4 days, and 4 days back. A total of 8. 8 Days of Miracle.
- This miracle shows that we are not alone. God is with us always
- This message is worth celebrating
- The darkness did not go away and the light is always with us
- Now we don’t see miracles or prophets that talked with God or Moses with his magic staff, and yet
- The story is alive as a reminder, and God is near even though God is silent
- We light candles as much as we light ourselves within, with our loved ones, family and friends
- It is symbolic as a way for us to connect with miracles and remember we are not alone.
Happy Chanukah.