Celebrating Hanukkah on the North Shore

Gifts are not what 12-year-old Natalie Macnow is looking forward to this Hanukkah . Rather, she’s looking forward to spending precious time with her immediate family.

“It’s not about the presents at all,” said Natalie, referencing a lesson by Congregation Tifereth Israel’s Cantor Gustavo Gitlin. “I just want to spend time with my family and I want all of us to be safe. That’s all I want.”

Natalie’s mother, Marisa Macnow, added that as a Congregation Tifereth Israel teen group had a gift swap this year, Natalie gave a gift she had received to Macnow, instead of keeping a gift for herself. “She brought the gift into my car and said, ‘Mommy, this is for you,’” Macnow said. “It was a candle and a scarf and gloves set. She sacrificed her gift that she got and gave it to Mommy.”

The weekend before Hanukkah began on Dec. 10, Macnow said she had already prepared potato latkes for her children, which was Natalie’s idea. But an aspect of the Macnow’s Hanukkah celebration that will be different this year, besides the potential delay of online shopping deliveries containing gifts, is missing grandma. “Grandma doesn’t want to stay away, but she knows she has to,” Macnow said. “We’ll be Zooming a lot.”

Hanukkah celebrations are generally home and family oriented, Rabbi Janet Liss of North Country Reform Temple in Glen Cove explained. “The rituals for Hanukkah are really made for the home,” she said. “The lighting of the menorah and just the warmth and celebration with families.”

North Country Reform Temple’s observances of Hanukkah will be digital, but interactive this year. “We’re going to be having people light their own menorahs from home and hopefully we’ll all be able to see them on Zoom,” Liss said.

The Saturday after, there will be a virtual story telling service in the late afternoon, followed by a Havdalah service, which separates the Sabbath from the rest of the week, as well as menorah lighting.

Rabbi Irwin Huberman, of Congregation Tifereth Israel in Glen Cove, agreed that the traditions of Hanukkah are primarily observed in the home with immediate family.

“So, during this time of the year when the days are a little bit shorter and it’s a little bit colder and the world around us just looks a little bit insurmountable,” Huberman said, “the Hanukkah celebration for eight days in a row reminds us that we have the capacity to put light into the world.”

In addition families will also be watching a play featuring members of the congregation based on the children’s special “Chanukah on Planet Matzah Ball.”

Cathi Turow, a writer for children’s television who was a staff writer for “Sesame Street,” worked on the play with Gitlin.

Through the pandemic, Turow has worked on several plays on Zoom for Congregation Tifereth Israel.

“I had this thought that I can take the brain work from the DVD I did called ‘Chanukah on Planet Matzah Ball’ and we can act out parts of it,” Turow said, “and I can adapt it into a little show that many of the congregants can have a script and act out.”

In addition to presenting the play, Congregation Tifereth Israel will hold a car parade, handing out gifts and singing songs for members who are currently home bound.

“Then after that, we’re going to release the Hanukkah play,” Gitlin said. “We’re going to light the candles and the rabbi is going to tell the story and we’re going to sing a few songs and say the Hanukkah blessings.”