The lighting of the Hanukkiyah - or Hanukkah menorah - is central to the celebration. Each night of Hanukkah an additional candle is lit as the days of the Miracle of the Oil are counted down. Every Tuesday I have to walk through the Ghetto (one of my favorite areas in Roma) to go to an appointment in Trastevere. It is a compact area - as indeed to put it politely the Ghetto always was - with small shops, good restaurants, an incredible kosher bakery and the Great Synagogue. Each year a large hanukkiyah is set up in the precincts of the Synagogue and another in Via di Portico d'Ottavia. This evening as I went along the Via four candles were lit awaiting sunset for the lighting of the fifth from the shamash or "helper" candle.
Its also traditional, because the festival celebrates the miracle of the oil, to eat fried food at a Hanukkah meal. Latkes served with applesauce are the favoured dish in most households. My friend Ben writes in his usual witty style about celebrating Hanukkah in his new apartment in Berlin. From what I read they'll be having latke sandwichs for lunch for the next week.
The thought of those latkes reminded me of a Hanukkah dinner in Chicago at our friend Nancy's place many years ago. She had used her bubby's recipe for latkes and the apartment smelled of cooking oil. One of the guests gave a sigh and said it smelled just like her bubby's house at Hanukkah. Suddenly this group of hard-assed yuppy lawyers were nodding in moist-eyed recollection of that memory. Oddly Laurent and I were the only ones at the table that evening who knew the complete story of Hanukkah, the fight of the Maccabes and the purification of the defiled temple in Jerusalem. And we were the only gentiles.
Happy Hanukkah to all my friends as they celebrate the Festival of Lights.
15 decembre - San Carlo Steeb
2 comments:
i had to google it to find out what the reason behind it was..
Well,
I am happy to report that the latkes were eaten...all of them! People were so greedy that they even snatched them from the oven with their bare hands, although I am not sure if it was because they liked the latkes or if they just hadn't eaten in a while...(you never know with Berlin bohemians). If you make latkes make sure you put out small bowls of baking soda to absorb the smell.
But seriously - potatoes, oil and salt? What's not to like?
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