Hag Sameach!

In our mixed bag family festive seasons and holy days tend to pile on top of each other. The girls and I are already knee deep in Advent and looking forward to Christmas, and we are now also celebrating Hannukah, the Festival of Lights, with Tevye. This evening Angel, Star and I went out to sing and play Christmas carols. We then came home to join Tevye in the prayers for the beginning of Hannukah, to light the menorah and to exchange Hannukah gifts. Christmas and Hannukah coincide most years, as do Easter and Passover, and we have learned to take double celebrations in our stride. Even though they make what would in any case be busy seasons busier still, it is worth the extra effort to be able to enjoy the richness of both strands of our family heritage.

On the way home from our carol trip, I asked Angel and Star if either of them could remember the Hebrew greeting for Hannukah. "Yes" piped up Star, confidently ... "sheket, b'vakasha!" Er ... not quite! Sheket b'vakasha is Modern Hebrew for "quiet, please!" (or more colloquially, "shut up"). Tevye remembered this snippet from a trip to Israel, and taught it to the girls long enough ago not to expect them to remember it. Odd things stick in Star's brain. And yes, the monkey did know what it really meant! What she should have said was ...

Hag sameach! Happy holidays!