A Chanukah Message From Shaindle Schmuckler
For our annual Chanukah issue, we asked members of our community to share why they think it is so important for our Jewish community to, "Shine Our Light Bold and Bright."
Shaindle Schmuckler spreads her energy and humor as a regular contributor to the Atlanta Jewish Times.
A Chanukah Tale
Chanukah gelt!
As a child, the gold and silver foil wrapped chocolate gelt, was our anticipated gift. Some gelt came from grandparents, some from aunts and uncles, and some gelt from our parents. This gelt was not to be spent. Not a store in the world would accept these coins, and we loved that we could eat this gelt as much as we could consume, no one dared say ‘don’t eat your gelt.’ As a child, this seemed like a great thing to do with this gelt. Toys, games, clothes could not hold a candle to the chocolate Chanukah gelt.
Gift certificates, bikes, trips, etc., was not an expectation, not anywhere on our radar.
Candle lighting of the menorahs and the singing of our beloved Chanukah songs are what I remember with such love and emotionality. It never dawned on us that we were somehow in competition with Christmas. I’d never heard of a Chanukah bush until Gene and I moved to Baton Rouge, La. to attend Louisiana State University. GO TIGERS!
If there are miracles associated with Chanukah, the one I cherish the most are the delicious memories.
comments