Happy Hanukkah

The Hanukkah celebrations have begun and this evening we lit the third candle on our Hanukkiah. Hanukkah, or The Festival of Lights, is an eight day holiday commemorating the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks in the 2nd century BCE. The festival has a number of traditions and customs associated with it.
We light the Hanukkiah, or Menorah, to remind us of a great miracle that happened long ago. After the Maccabees (the Jewish fighters) defeated the Syrians and chased them out of Jerusalem, the Jews wanted to light the Temple Menorah again. But there was one problem; the oil in the Temple was only enough for one night, yet it continued to burn for eight full days, the length of time it took to press, prepare and consecrate fresh olive oil. When we light the Menorah it is to remember this miracle.

Because Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of oil, it is traditional to eat fried foods such as latkes and sufganiyot during the holiday. Latkes are pancakes made out of potatoes and onions, which are fried in oil. Sufganiyot are jam-filled doughnuts that are fried and dusted with confectioners’ sugar.

As a part of tradition, we also play a game called dreidel on Hanukkah. The dreidel is a 4-sided spinning top with a different Hebrew letter on each side. The four letters which appear on the four corners of a dreidel allude to the miracle of Hanukkah. They spell out: Nes (N-miracle), Gadol (G-great), Haya (H-happened) and Po (P-here, meaning in Israel).

All these traditions give significant meaning and importance to the festival, and add a little weight on the scales too!

Quite appropriately on Hanukkah, I was delighted to see my name ‘up in lights’ during The Festival of Lights. Etsy Chai, an online Jewish community team which promotes Jewish and non-Jewish artists handmade Judaica on Etsy, featured an interview with me. If you are interested in reading a little bit more about me and my work, please click here.

To those of you celebrating this fun festival, I wish you a very happy candle-lighting, dreidel-spinning, latke-eating Hanukkah!

Beitar Jerusalem and a Bar Mitzvah

Quite a number of custom-made cards have been winging their way to some happy celebrants recently. After all the running around, with trips to the north and south of the country, I have been knuckling down and getting on with some creative work.
The card above, showing a young Beitar Jerusalem supporter, was requested for a young man due to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah. I was asked to create a card connecting the fact it was his Bar Mitzvah, but also showing his love for his favourite football team. I hope that this illustration of the young man in his yellow and black kit, holding a football and wearing his kippah, or skullcap, fit the bill nicely.

These cards were all ordered by the same customer who had several birthdays of relatives and friends in the UK that she wished remember. Amongst the collection you can see a card for 'Louis' who drives an iconic London black cab; an 80th birthday card for a supporter of both Tottenham Hotspur and Leeds United; a card for 'David' who is a motorbike enthusiast.I have mentioned before that I sometimes participate in a local women's networking group. Some time ago I met a lady at one of the meetings who runs Fun in Jerusalem, a website that is a great source for information on kid’s activities in Jerusalem. She recently contacted me and asked whether I would be interested in having my work included in a Hanukkah feature about interesting and unique gifts for kids. Above, you can see a screenshot of the page featuring my Hanukkah cards and Treasure Boxes. The extra publicity was appreciated and it is always nice to have my work featured alongside great company.

Twins

A friend called and asked me to make a birthday card for her twin sister who lives in England. Her sister and her husband are keen Salsa dancers and so my friend described what the couple look like and asked me to create a card showing them dancing together. I made the card, below, and my friend seemed delighted with it.
A few days later I received an e-mail from my friend's husband. He had seen the birthday card for his sister-in-law and was therefore reminded to order a card from me for his wife! His e-mail read, "M. has her birthday next week (as you know because you did her twin sister's card!)." This time the requested theme was netball, and after a little probing, I found out that she plays in the Wing Attack position, so was able to personalise her card that little bit further by adding the correct letters to her red bib.
I was super impressed that her husband ordered a customised card for his wife. It has to be said that the majority of my customers are female and even my own husband generally doesn't have a clue when his own family's birthdays are (except for mine, of course!). Maybe marrying a twin does give this particular husband a clear and major advantage!

North and South

We have had a run of busy weekends lately, and though it can be quite exhausting at times and sometimes all you want to do is get up late and even perhaps stay in your pyjamas all day, each and every time we have been out we have ended up having a wonderful day! Two weeks ago we headed north, to the lush green Galilean scenery of Gush Halav and the Bar'am Forest, and last weekend we were southbound, to Ein Gedi, an oasis located west of the Dead Sea, close to Masada and the caves of Qumran. The landscape in both places was incredibly different, something that never ceases to amaze me in the tiny country that Israel is.

The photos above allow you a glimpse of the beautiful scenery we enjoyed up north. We started our hike at Gush Halav, known by the Arabs as el-Jish, or simply Jish, and now a Maronic Christian village. It's first inhabitants arrived approximately 5,000 years ago and the place became renowned during the time of the Second Temple (about 2,000 years ago), when there was an ancient Jewish centre there. Next to the village are the remains of a synagogue from the Roman period, with two rows of columns, the remains of a roof, and a pillar with an ancient inscription.

We continued our way up stream along Nahal Zivon, where we saw pretty flowering saffron plants, or karkom, and olives being harvested from the rows of trees, then climbed uphill through the shady Bar'am Forest. We ended the day with a well-earned picnic, as the sun began to set and, though it had been a lovely day for walking, it was getting to be a little too cool to sit outside. Last weekend we were invited to celebrate the Bar Mitzvah of the son of good friends of ours at the Ein Gedi Field School. Ein Gedi is an oasis in the desert, situated on the shore of the Dead Sea – the lowest place on Earth - at the feet of majestic mountains and cliffs, and is the place where David hid while being pursued by King Saul.

The Bar Mitzvah celebrations began with an easy hike along the spring-fed stream of Nahal David, surrounded by flowing waterfalls and lush vegetation – a sharp contrast to the surrounding desert. We were lucky enough to see several ibex and the hyrax, prominent residents of the oasis, along the way, and the panoramic views allowed us glimpses of the Dead Sea.

The Field School proved to be a wonderful choice for the weekends celebrations, located on a nearby hilltop overlooking the desert area. The ibex were happy to graze amongst us, and a gap between Shabbat synagogue services allowed us time for a short climb up to a nearby ancient ma'ayan, or spring.

This weekend we intend to be at home and do very little, though the memories of our recent travels make the early starts that these trips require more than worthwhile.

Glasses and a Guitar

A short while ago I received a call from a lady looking for a special wedding card for a close family member. She had seen the cards in my Etsy shop but wasn't sure if she wanted a card from there, or something custom-made. Chatting to her, I learnt that the groom-to-be played the guitar and that the bride wore green framed glasses. I realised that I could have some fun with the illustration of this couple, and so, after a photograph was e-mailed to me, I set to work creating the groom with his guitar and those glasses! Above, and below, you can see the end result. I do hope that the card was well received and that the customized design was appreciated. The Hebrew greeting wishes the couple 'Mazal Tov' or congratulations.

I have been very lucky to have my work included in several Etsy Treasuries lately. Christine of Beads of Paradise kindly included my Purple Cupcake Notebook in a lovely collection of purple coloured gifts. It is the first time that one of my notebooks has found its way into a treasury. My cards and pictures have always featured before. Thank you Christine. The extra exposure is always very much appreciated. My notebook can be seen below, right in the middle of the picture.

Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel

The eight-day holiday of Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is almost upon us and for those of you with family and friends abroad or in another city, I have some colourful new cards in my shop so that you can send them Hanukkah greetings from afar.
The cards show the dreidel, a four sided spinning top with a different Hebrew letter on each side that children play with on Hanukkah. Each side is imprinted with a Hebrew letter. These letters are an acronym for the Hebrew words נס גדול היה שם (Nes Gadol Haya Sham, "A great miracle happened there"), referring to the miracle of the oil that took place in the Temple in Jerusalem.
For those of us here in Israel, I also have cards with the fourth side of the dreidel inscribed with the letter פ (Pe), replacing the last word 'there' for 'here', referring to the fact that the miracle occurred in the Land of Israel.
Last week Yafit of Yafit's First Glass, and a fellow member of the Etsy Chai team, included these very same cards in a treasury called 'Team EtsyChai spins the Dreidel'. As always, it was lovely to see my work included in the collection, right in the centre of this picture. Thank you so much, Yafit.
Hanukkah starts at sundown on December 11th so order your cards now and let your relatives and friends know that you are thinking of them during this fun festival.

Mitspe Ramon

I mentioned in a recent post that my Dad is currently here for a visit. With flights to Tel Aviv being frequent and easy to arrange, he is able to come and see us quite often. Whilst here, it has become a nice habit that we all go away for a weekend together. This trip was no exception and we spent this last glorious weekend at Mitspe Ramon, a small town in the Negev desert of southern Israel.
Mitspe Ramon, from the arabic "Ruman" meaning "Romans", and probably linked to a track that Romans built there, sits on a northern ridge overlooking the spectacular Ramon Crater. This crater, or makhtesh, as it is called in Hebrew, is 28 miles long and five miles wide, and is shaped like an elongated heart. The crater and surrounding area forms Israel's largest national park, the Ramon Nature Reserve.With two full days in the area we were able to see a lot, though we of course did not attempt the trek recommended for the "physically fit" which can take up to three days! Our first full day saw us visiting the local Alpaca Farm, the only farm in the world where over 400 exotic alpacas and llamas are raised. The kids had a great time hand feeding the animals and enjoyed a ride on 'Dali' the llama, whilst we took in the stunning desert scenery. Afterwards we walked along a small part of the sculpture promenade which runs along the western edge of the crater and features many environmental and musical sculptures, created by artists from different countries. The views of Makhtesh Ramon were simply breathtaking and it was a wonderful spot to stop for a picnic. The ibex - mountain goats - thought so too and we watched two of them swiftly climb up from the road, paying no attention to us at all. Our second day in Mitspe Ramon started with both my boys learning to rappel off the cliffs of the Ramon Crater with the help of a very patient instructor. They had a 15 meter descent and Mummy was afraid to watch, never mind take part! They of course had a wonderful time, though my six year old did admit to being a little bit scared!
Next on the agenda was a quick visit to the Mitspe Ramon Visitors Centre where we learnt a little about the geography and geology of the place from large models and watched a film describing the formation of the Negev and its craters. Once again the view from the centre's rooftop observation deck was fabulous. After some guidance at the main desk, the real adventure then began.
A short drive southward into the crater allowed us to get up-close with the landscape and really begin to appreciate its beauty. We turned onto a gravel road, left the car and set off on the footpath toward Nahal Ardon, or the Ardon Canyon. The rock formations around us were beautiful, the colours varying from black and visible signs of volcanic activity, to the red and green sand layer formations of a dike. At the end of the trail we turned back and returned to the car. Although it seemed a chore to use the same path back, we enjoyed it all over again with the effect of changing light. Our final stop of the day, before the drive home, was at The Carpentry, or Ha-Minsarah, a sandstone hill with exposed symmetrical hexagonal prisms of sandstone laid in piles like wooden plates in a carpentry. We wandered along a special lifted wooden path that allows walkers to pace above the prisms without hurting them and enjoyed the view from the top.
It was time to head home and leave the magnificent panoramas of the Ramon Crater for the time being. My Dad is leaving us too this evening, yet after the extraordinary few days we had together, we all hope to return to Mitspe Ramon again one day soon.