Rapping through Chanukah

 

 

By Donald H. Harrison

CHULA VISTA, California — Temple Beth Shalom celebrated the fifth night of Chanukah Dec. 1 in both ancient and modern style.

“Chanukah” is a Hebrew word meaning “dedication” as when the Maccabees rededicated the ancient Temple in Jerusalem in 167 BCE after it had been defiled by the Syrian Greeks.  In memory of that occasion, members of the polyglot Conservative congregation — whose members are drawn from many races and ethnic backgrounds — lit their Chanukah menorahs in unison, led in the candle lighting blessings by congregant Shoshana Dennis.

Lit each night for eight days, the Chanukah menorahs, also known as hannukiyot, remind us that to be brought back into full use by the Jewish people, the Temple needed a ner tamid, or eternal light.  But the Maccabees found only a single cruse of oil amid the ruins–insufficient, of so they thought, to keep the eternal light burning until religiously sanctioned oil could be brought to the Temple from other parts of the country.

But miracle of miracles, the oil lasted eight days, sufficient time for the oil to be resupplied and the eternal light perpetually illuminated.

For children, the late afternoon party meant an opportunity at the arts and crafts table to make dreidels out of clay, with the letters on the four-sided top abbreviating the reminder that a “great miracle happened there.”  Brandishing large dreidels cut out from poster board, The Temple’s youth also helped retell the story of Chanukah. from the social hall’s stage.

For Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel and his congregants the happy occasion coincided with the dedication of the Temple’s library  in a room which, after years of neglect and use as a storeroom, had been converted  into a center for Jewish learning.  The many titles reflected the fact that Rabbi Samuel, a frequent writer for San Diego Jewish World, is an inveterate reader and book reviewer.

Before everyone settled down to a kosher buffet dinner,  with the mandatory latkes that had been symbolically fried in oil,  Rabbi Samuel and congregant Luke Chabner performed a modern-day rap song to tell about one of the customs of the holiday.

See if you can keep the beat of this one as you read the lyrics:

Here’s a story about my Kosher driedel
It’s made for every boy and Jewish maidel
We all learned to spin it from the cradle
Given to us as a gift from our Auntie Sadel

Not  every driedel is made from clay
Some may from come Frisco or Bombay
When it spins, we say Hurray
Even Santa has one, on his sleigh

A Dreidel moves a like a spinning top
It has four sides, moves and stops
You can make it jump or flip flop
When you win, you wanna hop

A Driedle reminds us of the Wandering Jew
Bet that’s something you never knew
Shlepping  for us is never new
We pursue peace, justice, and imbue
We’re happy to live as Jews

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com