Happy Hanukkah!

It is Hanukkah for our Jewish friends and neighbors. I thought I would shmooze about some interesting facts about this Jewish Holiday.

• In Hebrew, the word "Hanukkah" means "dedication.

• Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days and nights, starting on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar (which is November-December on the Gregorian calendar).

• The holiday commemorates the re dedication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem after the Jews' 165 B.C.E. victory over the Hellenist Syrians. Antiochus, the Greek King of Syria, outlawed Jewish rituals and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods.

I am such a schmuck and it is so shmaltzy, but here is what I knew about Hanukkah before tonight:

• They make and eat lots of potato latkes and cheese blintzes
  

I am so meshugah!

Shalom