Thursday, December 22, 2005

Chanukah

I spent a lot of last week sorting through old photos to put together an album for one of my friends for her 50th birthday. As a short chronicle of her life it worked out really well, and it made me want to record some of my early life.

When I was a little girl, at this time of year we celebrated Chanukah not Christmas. Chanukah was my favourite of all the Jewish festivals because relatives and friends of my parents would give me and my sister Chanukah Geld (money) and my parents would buy us small presents for each of the 8 nights of celebrations.


The little girl in this picture is my older sister. My parents are on either side of her and the other couple are relatives from the States and between them my paternal grandmother (more about the evil old bat another day).
On the table is a Menorah (candle) and for each night of Chanukah another candle is added and lit, to commemorate a story that is recorded in the Talmud.





I was brought up in a Reform Jewish household, which meant that Judaism was practised in our house but some of the ancient orthodox customs had been ‘reformed’ to a more modern way of life. At least modern to when the Reform movement started, which I think was some time in the 19th century.

My father was really the religious mainstay in our household, and after he died when I was 11, we tried for a bit to keep up the traditions, but my mother's heart really wasn't in it. She hadn't been brought up in a religious household; had never kept Kosher or gone to synagogue as a child and she found it hard to maintain.

I left my religion behind many years ago, except for maintaining some of the food rituals that go with Jewish festivals. I still think of myself as a Jew, but only in a cultural sense.

This is a picture of me in my best angora hat for the holidays

I love the picture because of the way it evokes 1950s England

Posted by Zoozan :: 6:42 am :: ---------------------------------------