How Will You Light Your Chanukah Menorah This Year?

Enjoy this video from these inventive Technion students....and if you have a better way to light the menorah this year, we'd like to hear about it!

 

 

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Happy Columbus Day! (Maybe it is a Jewish celebration after all...)

As Columbus Day coincides this year with the end of Sukkot and with Shemini Atzeret, it seems fitting to revisit the question of Christopher Columbus and the possibility that he was Jewish.

Here's an article which you may have missed last May, on the 500th anniversary of Columbus' death, which reviews some of the evidence supporting this claim and an article from the Jewish Virtual Library which examines source documents in the Library of Congress for evidence of Jewish influence on Columbus' voyage.

In a related article published today, Brandeis doctoral student Yoni Appelbaum reflects on the changing nature of the Columbus Day commemoration.

Food for thought...

A Stormy Sukkot

It's wet and windy here in Westchester... perhaps in solidarity with our Israeli brethren, who are less accustomed to this type of weather in October than we are.

This article, from Ha'aretz, discusses stormy weather and power outages in Israel, while this one, from The Jerusalem Post, mentions "Rabbi Benny Lau, head of the Ramban synagogue in south Jerusalem and a prominent figure in the national-religious community, [who] said in his sermon Monday morning that the rains on the first night of Succot conveyed definite divine displeasure."

Let's hope for better weather this Thursday, October 4th, when Congregation Sons of Israel in Briarcliff Manor will host the WJCS Sukkot Celebration for Persons with Developmental Disabilities.

A Song for Sukkot

The Fountainheads are back with this catchy tune to help you get in a Sukkot mood!

What Do You Do with an Etrog after Sukkot?

We're curious to know how many of our Westchester Jewish community members purchased an etrog this year.  Leave us a comment below - and be sure to let us know what you do with yours once the holiday is over.

According to this timely article from Tablet Magazine, there are many post-Sukkot options, including using the seeds to try to grow your own!