It's Hanukkah!

We are now in the process of celebrating that great holiday known as Hanukkah.  Really, is there any holiday more fun for Jewish kids?  Other than Purim, I think not!   But Hanukkah is a the big winner because you get presents...lots and lots of presents.  (Purim comes in a distant second because of this fact alone).

Ian came home last Monday letting me know that he was going to bring in a Menorah to class the next day.  We knew he was the only Jewish kid in his class, but I didn't realize that none of the kids had ever seen a Menorah or knew what Hanukkah was.  I asked Ian if he'd like some help explaining to the kids what the menorah is all about.  He said yes, and I emailed his teacher to find out how much information would be welcomed.

Next thing I knew, I was given 30 minutes to present "Hanukkah" to Ian's 2nd grade class this past Friday.  Oh my!  Talk about getting myself into something so much bigger than I wanted.  All week, Ian and I worked on what information we would share with his class.  I brought in little bags of gelt (chocolate coins) for each child to have (of course I made sure to get a few that were certified "nut free" for the inevitable nut allergy kids), got enough dreidels for each child and printed out the directions on how to the play the game.

Finding a book to read to the class proved a little more challenging.  There are a ton of books about Hanukkah out there, but none that really made me love it enough to want to read it to the class.  I found a couple to borrow from Sam's preschool.  Ian, unbeknownst to me, also was on the search for the perfect Hanukkah book and used his library time at school to find a book or two to use. 

Together, we had a presentation ready to go. Ian and I did a practice review on Thursday evening.  When it was over, Ian looked at me and said, "Mom, that was 8 minutes."   Uh-oh!  I figured that if we had time to fill, we could just break into games of dreidel. 

Come Friday, Sam and I walked into Ian's class.  After a brief intro on what Hanukkah means (Festival of Lights), why the holiday came to be (the miracle of the oil lasting 8 days instead of one) and how the holiday can move based on the lunar calendar, Ian took over.  And boy, did he!  He showed the examples (4 of them!) of menorahs we brought in.  He held up a driedel, explained all the letters and what they stood for and then slid right into reading the book.  Yep, that's right.  Ian read the book to the whole class and his teacher. After each page, he'd point out to everyone what the picture meant and show the various Jewish things the story was featuring. 

 Ian took command of the presentation and did a fantastic job.  I was so incredibly proud of him.  If Ian ever grows up and becomes the head of something very important, I can honestly say, I knew it was possible because of this afternoon in Ian's 2nd grade class. 

And, the whole time, my little Samantha stood right next to Ian's side.  Every time Ian said the word, "Shamash", Sam said, "that's the helper candle."   It was very cute and she loved getting to be a part of it.  After Ian was done speaking, I handed out the directions on how to play driedel, Sam handed out the gelt and Ian handed out the driedels.  It was pretty awesome. We (mostly Ian) filled the whole 30 minutes.

Ian says next year, we'll explain Rosh Hashanah to his class.  Um, yeah, I don't think so.  :)