Light & Love On Hanukkah

To Love & LIght

Happy Hanukkah friends! Sharing loads of love, light and levity around this wonderful celebration. As Jew"ish" people, Cyla and Rachael have found fun resources like JewBelong.org and DaysUnited.org (click the link to get $10 off!) to help explain these stories and recall them over these important holidays.  This episode shares some of those stories!

While this season can lead to a lot of receiving, there is also an opportunity to give! We are proud to share the details of another #MegaMitzvah that benefited OneWarmCoat.org and the children of Devereux Georgia. 

Listen along, and share the light and a little laughter within us all. 

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Massive thanks to the awesome friends that lent their voices to our vision at the top of each episode.  Kelley Buttrick, Jill Perry, Nicole & Lila Britton, Trevor Johns, Caroline Slaughter, Tiffany Morgan, Cassie & Sabrina Glow ++ Jason Shablik & Van Gunter for their audio genius - we adore you all! 

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In Gratitude,

Rachael Laya & Cyla Grace Hoffman

Transcription:
[1:03] Hi friends. Hello, how are you? Happy Hanukkah.
Happy Hanukkah. Happy Hanukkah. Happy Hanukkah To all of our friends that are listening today.
Even if you don't celebrate it because Hanukkah, even though it's a holiday that the jewish people celebrate and we are jewish people technically, would you?
Ish? We are what you call reform jews, which means we don't practice like straight Judaism like strict Judaism, would you light?
And one reason that you can tell that is we eat ham, this is true.

[1:52] Um, but to all of you listening that may not be jewish.
We are celebrating the fourth night of Hanukkah today, it is Wednesday december 1st 2021.
And for those that don't know hanukkah, it does not fall on the same eight days every year.
Like christmas does or um some other holidays, it's all over the place because it follows the jewish calendar which dates back.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait thousands of years, thousands of years go 2000 years ago.
Yeah. And so, and actually that's where our story.

[2:30] Begins And so we wanted to share a little bit of information because you know, it's awesome to refresh yourself if you do celebrate holidays like hanukkah, if you are jewish.

[2:43] Um you probably know better than me but we do try to remind ourselves because these are celebrations and traditions that,
our ancestors, you know have carried on through thousands of years and out of respect for the jewish people and for all people.
I think it's important that we continue to tell our stories.
And so today we're going to share a little bit of information with our listeners.
Like big backstory behind big kind of tiny backstory behind you're going to share a sliver backstory sliver actually like a fraction one because our show is only 15 minutes long.
Two because you're eight and three because we just don't know enough and it's hard to condense this down.
So one of the ways that we have found to lean into some of the jewish holidays is by tapping into two really incredible resources,
that we have found you belong and days yes, ju belong is a fabulous organization.
Um if you can tell by the name you belong, you belong.
Um it is an organization that promotes, you know, jewish ideology and tradition, but in a light and accessible way that us modern.

[4:03] Light hearted jews can kind of help to better understand.
And we've celebrated many holidays with them over the last few years, like Russia china and um kapoor and they really do help break it down barney style down.
I don't even know what that is. Break it down, barney style is that like barney, the big Purple Dragon guy.
I don't know that's more evident. Break it down barney style as you cut it with your fist.

[4:31] Okay, okay. That's just what I think I have no real clue.
I think it just means to like simplify it for big barney, right?
And small minds like mine. Um And then have a small brain.
I may have an an average brain. Thank you have a big brian. You do you have a big brain?
Small body. I have an average brain by Whoa, average body adult and I'm a tiny person compared to you. I'll take that.
So do you belong has been a fantastic resource for our family.
Um We are in no way affiliated by the way, just passing on some good word by people that are doing good work to promote anti Semitism, which is a term used for people.

[5:23] Anti Semitism is people that are against the jewish people.
And so they raise awareness about anti Semitic ideas and things like that so that we can all live a whole and more peaceful and inclusive world and that's really important these days.
And then Days is a box that comes on.

[5:45] You can choose every jewish holiday or four of the jewish holidays every year and it gives you a few activities that go along with the book or the the holiday.
That's right silo. And we like them two Days united dot com.
Maybe we'll drop a link in the show notes. But days has been an awesome resource because we have the subscription deal and I think hindu.

[6:11] Judaism and gosh, there's got to be two or three other Russia now.
No, I mean religious beliefs like the Muslims have a box specifically for them and the days United subscription and so did the jews and I have to look into it because I don't know enough to say.
And here I am saying it um all of the different um religious boxes that they support,
but days United, their whole thing is about making traditions happen together and you can find them at days United dot com or on their swim page. Yeah.
Anyway, so we have this uh days subscription box and it comes with a build your own menorah, make your own dried a lot of clay.
Um It has some great storytelling and so we're going to read a quick excerpt about Hanukkah from the day's guide. And so don't quote me quote them.

[7:09] So as you know, hanukkah is the jewish festival of lights.
It's celebrated over the course of eight days in the month of december.
Usually it's the darkest time of year each night People get together Light menorahs sing and eat fried foods in oil and play with dre dolls which is like a spinning top.
Yeah, it's like a spinning top and you win guilt.
It was just like chocolate coins right? Which is chocolate coins and you eat lackeys which is like a potato pancake with ab sauce and sour cream and onions. Yeah.

[7:45] And all the yummy things. Yes, you make soft, right?
Well you wouldn't mix meat and dairy in the same meal if you were keeping kosher, which is a very strict style of eating that is in alignment with the jewish people or at least Orthodox jewish people.
But in our house, like we said, no, we do care, we care a lot.
But we're not strict correct. It's just a little strict for our family Well, like we said, we're ju it's so silly to lead us in to a little bit of the story and we'll keep it brief.
The story goes like this.
Over 2000 years ago, the MMA copies a group of jewish fighters successfully defeated their oppressors.
The siren Greeks.
The jews reclaimed their holy temple in Jerusalem and we're able to practice their religion freely. Once again, Hanukkah is a celebration of this victory.
When the jews came to renew their beloved tradition of lighting the menorah, only a very small amount of oil was found Miraculously, this tiny amount of oriole lasted for eight days and nights.
We celebrate this miracle by lighting the menorah at Hanukkah for eight nights.

[9:07] Well, so that's just a little sliver sliver, like with like a tiny sliver one, Yes.
And now people celebrate Hanukkah all different ways in our house.
We do give a gift every night which depending on where Hanukkah falls,
and depending on how it lines up with your birthday, which is also in december and with christmas, which we also celebrate, it can be quite a gift e time of year.

[9:39] For some lucky soon to be nine year old. I wonder who that is, what it's me.
Oh, could it be lucky you.
Yes, but we do keep it light. And we also try to give back, especially during this time.
I just always like we just did our coat drive.
We did, we did her coat drive and thanks to one warm coat dot org.

[10:04] And many friends and family that supported and our community, we were able to recently donate like maybe 400 coats,
and no, not 120 coats but like $400.
Yes. To an awesome organization called Devereaux Georgia that helps and developmental emotionally challenged and behaviorally challenged young Children and young adults, Children and young adults.
So is it kind of like an orphanage? Well they, it's a campus here and I think they're nationally as well.
But here in Georgia they do have a local campus where many of the kids stay for treatment and for some supervision and help along the way to try to get them back to their strongest selves.
So when we called them to let them know that we had over 100 jackets to donate and asked if they would be willing to accept them.
They were overjoyed with happiness. Yes. The director answered my call and I told her who we were and she burst into tears and said, you wouldn't believe this.
But I am literally writing our wish list right now for the holidays and the thing we need most is jackets.
And I said, well We're your people will be there in 30 minutes of over 100 jackets to donate and that feels good cry mom.

[11:29] Please don't cry, do they make me cry?
And this will turn into a tear fast. We don't want to invest. Uh huh.

[11:38] It's just important to remember that is so much more important to give than receive yes.
So whether it's this time of year or any time of year and it happened to be giving Tuesday yesterday which coincided with our donation,
which felt really good but also that we should be considering giving year round and we do with our mitzvahs and our midst spot is another jewish word for good deed.
So congratulations and Mazel Tov, which is another jewish word for kind of congratulations and good health and happiness to you, Mazal Tov,
for for contributing to the world in a better way and doing another great,
mega mitzvah thank you Silas and thank you to all of our friends and community and family who supported um that mitts for this time of year. So.

[12:37] It's the fourth night of Hanukkah. We've got four more nights to go.
We are celebrating with family and friends were lighting our Menorah were saying our prayers were practicing extra levels of gratitude and love.
We're eating our fried black keys and our meatballs. But the meatballs are not a jewish thing, but they're just delicious, delicious.
And we are really trying to do our part to be jew ish this time of year well and year round.
So up next is a very special birthday whose birthday?
My birthday last year did your 8th birthday fall in Hanukkah. It did.
And this time seventh night. Okay. So it was crazy. It's actually our episode this time last year that we combined the conversation around your birthday and Hanukkah. So foot back there if you're listening and want to know more.
I can't even remember what we said. If it was on the eighth night of Hanukkah, it would be really like crazy eighths even if it was on december 8th, but it was the eighth night of Hanukkah and you turned eight on that day.

[13:50] Crazy. It would be your lucky number for that whole next year I think.
But this year it's the 13. Exactly. So, so here we are.
And I think we're off to another, it's the first day of December The last month of 2021 and I think we're ending it so far. So good.
We're going, we're getting back from Covid. Yeah, well and there's new things creeping up. So we shall see what the next few months in the next year ahead holds but we will be taking a short break over the holidays.
So the holiday when Silas breaks for school, we usually break for the podcast and when mom gets too overwhelmed to handle it all, like I think we missed last week, but we'll come back with a bonus episode or two.
I can only do so much, but thank you to all of our friends and family for listening for all of our friends that we haven't met yet for supporting.
Thank you and we hope and wish upon love and late to you and yours this season and always so real quick.
So going back to some teachings from juba long and if you are on instagram, definitely follow them. If you're interested in learning kind of Yeah, a little bit more about the jewish traditions and whatnot.

[15:12] But if you're a kid, just ask your mom, just ask, just ask your grown up. Right.
But one of the things I like is that they break it down for us in ways that are a little easier to digest and apply to modern times and today.

[15:26] On day four is a great example of that. They give a quote from Rabbi Hillel which applies the golden rule to something that we can all kind of understand.
So the fourth Hanukkah candle sparks treating people how we would want to be treated. Yes.
Someone once asked the Wise Rabbi Hillel to stand on one ft and quickly teach him the entire Torah.
The Torah is the jewish bible. So Rabbi Hillel stood on one ft and said that which is hateful to you don't do to anyone else.
All the rest is commentary.

[16:04] Sometimes people call this the golden rule, but whatever you wanna call it, let's let the fourth candle remind us to treat others as we would want to be treated.
Yeah. And there are many other incredible learning opportunities that you can apply to all for instance,
you know, repairing the world and how to lead with your heart and be a better person or acceptance that most people need acceptance a lot more than they need advice,
and how to live and operate with more love and more peace.
And really, if you have learned anything today know that that is our wish for you and that we hope that you can extend,
that to those around you and maybe make the world a little bit of a loving, more peaceful and balanced place.
So happy Hanukkah, Happy Hanukkah friends, whether you believe or you're just intrigued.

[17:01] We send our love and light to you. Yeah, Happy Hanukkah, Happy hunka, which is what used to say when you're a kid.
Happy hunka. Well you are still a kid, but when you were two, Exactly.
All right. See you later. Thanks for listening friends. We'll see you next week. See you next week. Bye.