Hanukkah

A scene of Hanukkah celebrations in Mayer Kirshenblatt’s family house. The painting is a valuable depiction of customs associated with this holiday. The painter’s parents and their four sons have gathered at the table. The father, Avner, is lighting the last candle on the hanukkiyah (Hanukkah lamp), there are dreidels (Hanukkah spinning tops) lying on the table, and the notes and letters floating over the heads of the pictured people suggest that they are singing. As the artist reminisces, ‘We lit the candles and sang Maoz tsur (Rock of Ages) […]. It was a special day for us because we were let out of school early. Father gave me Hanukkah gelt, a few pennies for a present, in honor of the holiday. Mother cooked latkes, potato pancakes, which are very delicious. […] We ate the latkes with a little sugar’ (M. Kirshenblatt, B. Kirszenblatt-Gimblett, They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust, Berkeley 2007). Małgorzata Bogdańska-Krzyżanek