Scarlett Letters

Yes, Chanukah was over at sunset, but I found one more thing I wanted to share: a video from this year's White House Chanukah party, in which a rabbi from New Orleans tells the story of the menorah they lit. In the original Chanukah story, a lamp was lit in the wake of devastation. This menorah, too, came through devastation to be lit once more.

1. I'm hungry. I ought to have breakfast. Breakfast will fix the hungry.

2. One of the great ongoing battles in my life is my habitual accumulation of clutter. I spent a portion of last night trying to declutter the kitchen table in hopes of having a cleared and cleaned kitchen table within the next day or so. I do so much living and working at this table that you'd think keeping it clear would be easy but...no. I made serious progress and got rid of two thirds of the clutter piled upon it. The third that is left is stuff I need to do things with: bills to be paid, magazines to be read, CDs to be burned to my hard drive, and so on. I'll pay bills after I'm done here on LJ this AM. I can burn CDs while I'm working today and I'll probably do quite a bit of that. I may actually get this table fully decluttered before day's end. That would be something.

3. President Obama is going to be on Mythbusters tonight and, in an act of great indulgence to me, oldmangrumpus is having a couple of people to his place for latkes and viewing. This should be entertaining, especially given how little entertainment or satisfaction I've had from the White House lately (not that I look to the White House for entertainment--that's not what it's there for, but there's been so little satisfaction that entertainment would make a consoling substitute). Looking forward to the company and the viewing.

4. With regard to satisfaction from the White House, I've actually had less than none lately. I don't know what the hell is going on up there. I am not optimistic about the next two years in Washington, D.C. and I'm deeply disappointed. That's all I'm going to say for now. ::grumble::

5. It's been a very pleasant Chanukah. My brother gave me, among other things, a lovely sterling silver pendant of two cats, one plain and one studded with marcasite chips--Spanky and Sophie! I've been wearing it constantly since it arrived.

Bonus item: Selected Shorts at Symphony Space is holding its annual short story contest. I have an idea for it and may attempt an entry. You writer types ought to consider entering, too.

For the fifth night of Chanukah, scarlettina gives to you Eran Barron Cohen (Sacha's brother) doing an awesome version of "Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel". I especially like Hebrew graffiti and the rap in Yiddish at the break.



And if you're curious, here's the transliteration and the translation of the rap:

Chanuka, oh chanuka, a yom tov a sheine,
A lustige, a freiliche, nishtu noch a zeine,
Ale nacht in dreidel shpilen mir,
Heise frishe latkes, esen mir.
Kumtz kinder, geshvinder,
di chanuka lichtelech untzinden,
Zingts Al Hanisim, un dankts far di nisim,
Un lomir alle tantzen tzuzamen.


Chanuka, oh chanuka, a beautiful holiday,
A joyous one, a merry one, there is no other like it,
Every night of Chanuka we play the dreidel,
And we eat piping hot delicious latkes.
Come children, come quick,
let's light the chanuka candles,
Sing 'Al Hanisim', and thank God for the miracles,
And let us all dance together.

Tonight I'm going to part thematically from Jewish virtual gifts per se because I'm so excited about this that I just can't wait to see it: Julie Taymor's The Tempest, with Helen Mirrin as Prospera and Djimon Honsou as Caliban. Here's our third-night virtual gift: the movie trailer.

Happy Chanukah, everyone! Tonight we light the first candle of Chanukah. We commemorate the miracle of the lamp that burned for eight days instead of just one in the wake of a battle for Jewish identity. As Jewish holidays go, it's not all that important a holiday, but I love it. I love lighting the candles and beating back the darkness. I like the idea that as the Temple was rededicated, so are we.

As I mentioned here a couple of nights ago, last year, I offered up a virtual gift for each night of Chanukah. This year, I'm going to do it again (I think two years means it's a tradition--we'll see.)

Tonight's virtual gift is getting so much play elsewhere on the Web that I feel like I'm being scooped, so here it is. Matisyahu, the Yiddishe rap/reggae star, has released a new song to celebrate the holiday. As always, he's hip and reverent at the same time, and is making some great music--it just happens to be thematically Jewish. As the kids say, check it:



And because we should tell the Chanukah story, here: you should read, you should learn. There's also a more historical, more complex way to look at it. As with so many Jewish holidays, it boils down to: They tried to defeat us, they failed, let's eat!