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December 28, 2005
Hanukkah: Kuatros kandelikas.
All Chanukkah entries can be found here.
Happy Hanukkah from the echinoderms at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.
More in the extended entry.
A cornucopia of Hanukkah symbols (including the guy in the menorah hat), from Gail. And keep scrolling down for the Christmas symbols.
Chanukah Haiku (Sort of)
Everything you ever wanted to know about the origin of the dreidl. (via Bloghead)
“Ma'oz Tzur” - universally sung during Hanukkah in the Ashkenazi world - is a medieval Hebrew piyyut with a German tune (which was also used for religious hymns by Martin Luther) and more recent emasculated English lyrics.
Naomi Chana on the conflicted attitude toward vengeance expressed by the lyrics and their translations.
More (paraphrased) from Ismar Schorch:
In a particularly blunt plea for revenge against the “wicked kingdom,” the poet dares to wish for God to intervene once more and “vanquish Christianity in the very shadow of the cross.” How could a Jewish poet who knew of the persecutions inflicted on his people by the Romans and their descendants be ignored at the triumphant moment of Hanukkah? Yet, the addition of the sixth stanza calls into question the basic theology of the entire song. If God always redeems his people, why are we still awaiting the messianic kingdom?
Judith | 12/28/05 at 08:05 PM | Categories: - Holy Days
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