MONTREAL -- If you were to take a lyric from comedian Adam Sandler’s pretty famous Hanukkah song and adapt it to COVID times, it might go something like this: stay in your pyjamakas, it’s time for Hanukkah!
Hanukkah 2020. There’s nowhere to go, no big party to plan, no dressy outfit to wear - the virus has seen to that.
But it can’t prevent Jewish families and individuals in Montreal from lighting the first of eight candles on Thursday evening just after sundown, creating that special Hanukkah glow.
There might be some sadness about being separated from family and friends, but Rabbi Boris Dolin from Congregation Dorshei Emet in Montreal said this may be the year to celebrate Hanukkah’s beauty and simplicity - while staying safe.
Families often place their lit Hanukiyahs (Hanukkah menorahs) in the window, to show their Jewish pride, and to share the light.
The holiday is “really about sitting around your table, lighting candles, having a few bites of chocolate and a doughnut and being with family,” said Dolin.
That being said, Dolin, known as Rabbi Boris to his congregation, will be hosting a big Hanukkah party for his members, on Zoom.
From his living room, along with his wife and three young children, Dolin, an accomplished banjo and guitar player, will be singing songs and leading Hanukkah games.
This rabbi knows how to throw a virtual party - he had 100 guests 'over' to his place last Passover.
Dolin also recorded six Hanukkah songs in Hebrew and English so that everyone celebrating can hit ‘play’ (watch the video above) and enjoy his take on some holiday classics.
Jennifer Croll Wolfe plans to celebrate this year “just us, our little nuclear family of five,” around their dining room table, instead of at a gathering that might include parents and in-laws.
They’ll light candles online with friends and family, she’ll find new recipes every night for different kinds of traditional foods like sufganiyot (doughnuts) and “we’ll have some vodka with our latkes!”
As far as important Jewish holidays go, Hanukkah is a minor player but that doesn’t make it any less meaningful or joyous.
The focus is usually on the children, who sprawl on the floor to play dreidel games (spinning tops bearing letters of the Hebrew alphabet), as they scarf down the sweet treats.
Montreal family doctor Barry Slapcoff is hoping to recreate some of that family energy with his Zoom extravaganza, bringing together four generations. The youngest just turned one and the most senior just celebrated his 90th.
“I can envision somewhere between 20 and 25 screens...I’m hoping everyone will bring their menorah and all light their candles simultaneously,” he said.
Due to his profession, Slapcoff sees stress everywhere he turns, and that’s why it’s especially important to celebrate this year.
“I can envision somewhere between 20 and 25 screens...I’m hoping everyone will bring their menorah and all light their candles simultaneously,” he said. “It’s probably more important than it has been in previous years. Relationships are strained during the pandemic.”
As a doctor in Montreal, Slapcoff sees stress everywhere he turns, and that’s why it’s especially important to celebrate this year.
“Everybody in the medical community is feeling something negative,” and so are his patients, who all have their own stories.
“I think it’s important that we take these opportunities to celebrate and reconnect with those we care about,” said Slapcoff, while remaining physically apart, until the pandemic is over, the GP recommended.
For Alissa Sklar, Hanukkah was always a small family celebration but this year COVID restrictions inspired a rethink about togetherness.
“Ironically in a way, because of the pandemic, my family is all over...so our plan is to do a Zoom Hanukkah and spend time with family we wouldn’t normally see, so that’s a cool thing,” said Sklar.
That seems to be a common theme. The constraints and challenges presented by the pandemic in some ways are making this Festival of Lights resonate even more.
“It gives us an opportunity to reflect on some of the meanings of the holiday,” that may have been hidden by larger celebrations in the past, said Dolin.
Historically, the story of Hanukkah celebrates “the rededication of the temple in the second century B.C.,” Rabbi Dolin recounted.
In an abridged version, he goes on to explain that Jews at that time were prohibited from performing Jewish rituals and living their lives as Jews.
“As legend has it, the Maccabees, a small group of Jews got together” and fought a war and won back the temple.
“But the temple was in disarray, everything had been destroyed and according to legend, there was only enough oil for one day to relight the menorah, the candles in the sanctuary. But a miracle happened and there was enough for eight days.”
There are layers of meaning and symbolism embedded in the story.
Dolin said as a self-described Liberal, accepting, open-minded Jew, who leads a congregation where interfaith couples and members of the LGBTQ community are welcomed - several aspects, in particular stand out.
“While primarily it [the Hanukkah story] is about freedom, I think we need to remember it’s about the rights of Jews and anyone who’s oppressed, who is a minority, to celebrate their own traditions and culture and really feel that they should be free to do what they want in society, especially today.”
An even more important lesson is found in the link between the holiday’s message, and the pandemic and what’s happening around the world, said Dolin, who is originally from Oregon.
“Our temple is destroyed in so many ways, politically, the environment, the way we’re disconnected from each other. We can just put up our hands and say we’re lost, or we can rededicate ourselves to committing more to care for each other, to fixing the brokenness in society. It sounds a bit cliche but there’s a lot of truth to it - to lighting those flames of compassion and truth and connection so we can actually have a stronger future.”
