Lighting Chanukah Together
Brazil
8 Lights For Chanukah
United Kingdom
Celebrating Chanukkah with Treffpunkt
Germany
A Chanukkah Project That Gives Back to the Community
Mexico
The Siddur Party
France
Lighting Chanukah Together
Elisa Nigri Griner, Patricia Lisbona Fuchs and Eyla Benedykt
Brazil
The world's Jewish community is celebrating! It's time for Chanukah, the festival of lights. Jews from all over the world will light their Chanukiot.
In cities like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba and in the main cities of Brazil, the candles of the great Chanukiot are lit, spread across squares, streets, malls, and
sport clubs.
This year will be no different, and Israel Bonds and the lay leaders of Women’s Division Brazil will be at several events in the Jewish community celebrating the great miracle
of Chanukah.
In the main cities of Brazil, the candles of the great Chanukiot are lit.
We will also celebrate with Women’s Division members, lighting the candles together, celebrating with latkes and sufganiot the miracle experienced by our ancestors after the recovery of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem, when a single container of olive oil provided eight continuous days of light.
Let's celebrate the “victory of light over darkness,” and unite this group of wonderful women, who are so supportive of Israel Bonds and the State of Israel.
Elisa Nigri Griner and Patricia Lisbona Fuchs are members of Israel Bonds Women’s Division in Brazil.
Eyla Benedykt is the Brazil Representative for Development Corporation for Israel (Brazil) Consultoria Ltda.
8 Lights For Chanukah
Joe Ozer
Executive Director in the United Kingdom
Development Company for Israel (International) Ltd.
With Chanukah coming up fast this year, we were delighted that our Israel Bonds lay leadership Chairman – Jonathan Lewis rung us up and told us that he wanted to do something different and exciting for Chanukah.
Jonathan told us of the amazing work of the Jewish Lads and Girls Brigade. Simply known to most as the JLGB, their aims are to ensure Jewish youth have the skills and tools to reach their peak potential and make a difference within society. Whether this is organising camps and events, enabling them to do their Duke of Edinburgh Awards, enhancing their leadership and development skills or even teaching them a musical instrument – JLGB does it all.
One of the experiences that Jonathan is most passionate about is to help some children who need to get to go to Israel on tour when they turn 16. To that end, he said that with the help of JLGB, they would identify 8 children, aged 11, who would get a gift of an Israel Bond from him. When they turn 16, the proceeds of this bond could be used towards their Israel tour experience.
These 8 kids – one for every day of Chanukah - will be able to develop their connection to the State of Israel with the bond that comes from owning an Israel Bond, which would be cemented on their trip with the JLGB to Israel.
Photo credit: Blake Ezra Photography
Celebrating Chanukkah with Treffpunkt
Michael Grauss
Executive Director of Germany
Development Company for Israel (Europe) GmbH
The Jewish eight-day holiday of Chanukkah commemorates the Maccabean revolt against their Greek-Syrian oppressors, and the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem during the second century B.C.E.
The story of Chanukkah is not only about the Maccabean victory but also about the miracle that one small vial of pure olive oil that should have lasted for only one day illuminated the recaptured temple for eight days.
We meet after sunset to light the candles, sing, and eat sufganiot and latkes
In the northern hemisphere, Chanukkah takes place in winter. This period is marked by fewer hours of daylight and many hours of darkness. It is cold and people are longing for light and warmth.
We meet after sunset to light the candles, sing and eat sufganiot (doughnuts) and latkes (potato pancakes).
Israel Bonds Germany participates every year in the Chanukkah candle-lighting event of the Treffpunkt in Frankfurt, the meeting point of Holocaust survivors, which is run by the ZWST, the central welfare office of the Jews in Germany. It is the biggest and one of the most important Jewish organisations in the country.
We are proud to celebrate with the members of the Treffpunkt and are looking forward to doing so for many years
to come.
Bringing light into the darkness is also symbolic of striving for goodness and hope, just as the State of Israel, the only Jewish homeland in the world, is a light unto the nations.
A Chanukkah Project That Gives Back to the Community
Linda Sirazi and Vicky Mamieh
Mexico
This year, our Women´s Division council members thought of a new idea to usher in Chanukkah together with Israel Bonds by producing original and creative works of Huichol art in the form of dreidels, handcrafted by the local artisans in Mexico.
Each individual dreidel or sevivon is made up of tiny, colored beads fastened with wax and resin to form colorful shapes, which are made up of the Hebrew letters of the sevivon (“Hei, Gimel, Nun, Shin”) and the Star of David. Each sevivon will be enclosed in an acrylic box that can be opened by lifting the lid. The acrylic base will serve as a stand so that the sevivon can remain in its upright position. It will bear the engraved logo and name of Israel Bonds.
Promoting the work of the Huichols...would be a significant means of giving back to our local communities.
The term “Huichol” comes from the Huichols, an indigenous people who mostly live in the mountainous areas of northern Jalisco and parts of Nayarit, Mexico. Having remained isolated for much of their existence, they have been subsisting largely on the cultural manifestations of their artwork and designs, which they sell to tourists and through other commercial markets. We are interested in promoting the work of the Huichols since it would be a significant means of giving back to our local communities. By producing the dreidels through the Huichol community of Jalisco, we would be increasing their livelihood by showing their work.
This concept is not a novel idea, since the company that is assisting us in producing the dreidels, IMPULSARTE, has been investing for over fifteen years in the human development of entrepreneurs who need opportunities to grow, offering profitable and quality financial products.
Approximately 250 sevivonim will be distributed among our council members and friends of Israel Bonds.
We plan to include a gift card with the acrylic box in which the dreidel will be placed, in addition to labeling each one as part of a series. Each sevivon will be an individual and authentic piece of art. Each year, we plan to use different colors and techniques for the same model so that they form part of a permanent collection that people can identify
with Israel Bonds.
Each sevivon measures seven centimeters high and will be placed on an acrylic base measuring three by three centimeters. Approximately 250 sevivonim will be distributed among our council members and friends of Israel Bonds.
Linda Sirazi is the President of Israel Bonds Women´s Division in Mexico. Vicky Mamieh is a staff member with Israel Bonds in Mexico.
The Siddur Party
Regis Folbaum
President of Yabne School Group - Paris
The transmission of Jewish values and identity from generation to generation shapes the meaning of an individual’s commitments and actions, just as it does the transmitted traditions of Yabne Paris.
At Henri Schilli school (Yabne – Paris), we encourage traditions that allow our pupils to associate the values of Judaism with moments of joy and warmth; we hope that they will always associate Torah with a positive attitude and joyful feelings.
When our first-graders have acquired the ability to read and write in Hebrew, their director organizes a ceremony called Messibat Siddur, the Siddur Party.
The ceremony celebrates the fact that our children can now read the Tefillah that
they learned orally in kindergarten and can start their path to Limoud Torah, the
study of Torah.
We encourage traditions that allow our pupils to associate the values of Judaism with moments of joy and warmth.
Their parents are invited to this ceremony, during which the children demonstrate their ability to read the Tefillah in Hebrew as well as perform a show they have prepared for this occasion.
Then there follows a beautiful moment when each of the parents presents to their own child a siddur and a new Chumash, adding
another link to the chain of transmission since the giving of the Torah
by Moses at Sinai.
Last year, we decided to complete this significant gesture with a strong symbol of attachment to the State of Israel and its people, which is a fundamental pillar of our identity.
To do so, we presented each of our sixty students with an Israel Bond, solidifying in a tangible way their bond with the Jewish state.
In five years, at the end of their studies at Henri Schilli Elementary School, their Israel Bond will come to maturity and the students will receive the capital and interest of their investment.
We certainly hope and pray that, along with the education they receive at home and the teachings they are receive at school, this gift will incentivize them to remain faithful to both Judaism and Israel.
This initiative was developed last Chanukkah at the Israel Bonds office in France by Regis Folbaum, President of Yabne School Group in Paris. The inspiration for the concept was to make a lasting connection between our Jewish traditions commemorated by the siddur party and the centrality of Israel, through the discovery of lsrael Bonds.
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