Yearly tradition

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Chanukah started yesterday at sundown. The menorah symbolizes the eternal flame that burns in the synagogue. Upon entering the ruins of a temple on Kislev 25, in the year 139 BCE (before common era) the Maccabees found enough oil to keep the eternal flame burning for one day. The oil lasted 8 eight days, establishing the length of the Chanukah celebration. The letters on the dreidel ...





are from the Hebrew alphabet ... nun, gimmel, hay, and sheen. Together they recite the transliterated phrase Naysh Gahdoal Hayah Shahm ... meaning "there was a great miracle there." The name of this festival in Hebrew means dedication in English.

Just like so many religious processes, there is a strict way to light the Chanukah candles. There are actually eight candles on the menorah, where the one higher up that the rest is called the shamash:

We light the shamus, then the number of candles signifying each night of Chanukah. We always light the candles from the one that indicates the night we are on to that which represented the first night. The rightmost candle is where we start on night one. 

The ladies are coming for another sciatic-based massage today at 2pm. The carpenter is supposed to be here today to rehang the sliding doors in the second bedroom. They have been sticking and wobbling since they were hung after some termite remediation was done last winter.

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