Chanukah 5769

Last night we lit the first candle on our Chanukiah, sang the traditional Maoz Tzur (Rock of Ages) song and ate doughnuts to celebrate the first night of Chanukah. Chanukah, or the eight-day Jewish holiday of the Festival of Lights, is a time when many families exchange gifts. Greetings cards are not often sent on this festival, but when presents are being exchanged, then gift tags are required. 'Handmade in Israel' is happy to oblige.
These tags show a dreidel, a four sided spinning top with a different Hebrew letter on each side. The game of dreidel is traditionally played during the holiday, possibly linking back to the time of the Greek-Syrians. The Jews were prohibited from studying Torah, the first part of the Jewish bible, so when they saw the Greek-Syrians coming they would take out their dreidels, and trick them into thinking they were just playing a game!
Whilst here in Israel and the Jewish people worldwide are busy celebrating Chanukah, Christmas is rapidly approaching and this is also the time to wish my friends out there happy holidays and a healthy and wonderful new year. Looking forward to a crafty and creative 2009!