My Chanukah

I was a kid, I loved Chanukah because it was fun. Candles. Presents. Time off from Hebrew school. I particularly remember what seemed to me and my siblings the huge, I mean huge, present that my Uncle Harry used to give us — 50-cent pieces! Plus chocolate. As I got older I loved the thick orange candles (which I’ve never seen since) and my parent’s menorah. Along the way I learned to spin the dreidel upside down, but I’m still not revealing my trick for getting it to land on “gimel” most of the time. When I went to college I was proud to have one of those super-cheap but perfectly kosher tin menorahs, which held candles minimally large enough to burn one-half hour. I […]