By Irv Jacobs, MD
LA JOLLA, California — On 10 of the 17 days we spent on a transcanal cruise between Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and San Diego, we celebrated Chanukah. Yes, 10 days of Chanukah.
Holland America Line is good about accommodating its guests’ various religious interests. For Chanukah, the Hudson Room aboard MS Rotterdam was reserved at 6 p.m. daily for candle-lighting, complete with an electric hannukiah, two bottles of kosher wine and goblets, and warm potato latkes with options of apple sauce or sour cream. Per any standard calendar, Chanukah lighting began on the eve of Dec. 22 and continued through the eighth night Dec. 29.
However the ship’s first daily printed calendar, distributed to each stateroom, indicated that there was candle-lighting on Saturday Dec. 21, the day we set sail. Why complain about the typo? We proceeded with havdalah, plus the first candle and blessings, and enjoyed our refreshments.
Over the subsequent eight days, we observed candle-lighting with the blessings and a short daily drosh by yours truly, then enjoyed the Holland America-provided refreshments with social comaraderie.
Several times, curious Gentiles attended, which resulted in added explanations and dialogue. Among the Gentiles were two Utah-Mormon college students, friends of a Jewish college girl passenger. In addition to their inquiries about the holiday, they were each happy to swig a goblet of wine. They also announced their plans to skip the Mormon ‘elective’ of 18 months of missionary work abroad.
Another curious Gentile was a woman Ph.D. ecology-epidemiology professor at Old Dominican U. in Norfolk, Virginia. A native of Taiwan, this confident self-declared atheist, simply likes to ‘hang out with Jewish people.’
Depending on how many guests showed up, some days one might have enough wine to carry his/her goblet into the dining room to embellish a ‘gourmet’ dinner.
I personally wondered if the ship’s management might continue to provide daily Chanukah pleasure for us throughout the cruise. Sadly, after the ten there were no further continued daily notices of Chanukah. Perhaps someone tipped off the front office to cease from further days of Chanukah!
I decided on Jan. 2, to inquire of the concierge desk who was responsible for the ‘two bonus days’ of Chanukah. Joshua, a nice young man at the desk, who ‘looked Semitic,’ laughed with me over the oversights. He informed me that the daily printed calendar was the combined responsibility of the ‘Head Office’ and the ‘Entertainment Office Coordinator.’ One or both had failed in his/her attention to a standard calendar, and the necessary count of eight days. On further inquiry he told me that he is Dutch, not Jewish.
As it happened, we Jews on board the Rotterdam not only enjoyed stops at Holland America’s Bahamian Island of Half Moon Cay, Curacao, Aruba, the ‘Canal’ and its locks, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and two ports in Mexico, we also enjoyed a double Chanukah bonus.
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Irv Jacobs is a retired medical doctor who delights in Torah analysis. He often delivers a drosh at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla, and at his chavurah.