![]() When they saw me, they started shouting that I had cut the power. When I returned home, my neighbors were standing in their front yard telling my wife that the blackout was my fault. I didn’t find anyone with a working flashlight. No Don’t Walk signs obstructed my stroll no streetlights revealed my face. I went for a walk, needing to revel in the surprise gift of actual darkness. It is rare, even in winter, for the night to be black. ![]() I knew my neighbors were to blame for the outage they had overloaded the grid, at last, sending a shock wave across town. One night later, there was a blackout on our street. He told me I should be thankful for so much brightness at this time of year and not trespass on her property again. I said that I had not and explained what I had done I spoke of the birds and the all-night lights and the fact that no one was getting any darkness. When I came home from work that evening, I was met by a policeman who told me I was to stop making threatening gestures against my neighbor. ![]() “I can show you right now.” Within minutes, I’d filled six boxes and brought them up to the porch. “You’re a vegetarian surely, you notice the dead piling up every morning?” I told the wife I found a snowy owl in the street. I tried talking to them about the carnage. The feathers of rufous raptors and the piebald breasts of little woodpeckers (even turkey tails) lay in the road, creating a mosaic more colorful than the fluorescents our neighbors prized. Red and blue, charcoal, and gray avians lay on the asphalt. The birds, dazed by the departure of darkness, did not sleep, and bounced off cars. Every December, they hired an electrician to find them more power. We gaped at the amplitude of their display and invested in thick black drapes. But my taste in illumination, the glimmer I seek at this time of year, is overshadowed by the display across the street.įor years, our neighbors piled lights on top of lights and displayed them from Halloween until the New Year. I love looking at tiny lights during a dark season, so I decorate our front window with a small electric menorah. And I would therefore also and of course not really all that much recommend Light the Menorah!: A Hanukkah Handbook as a basic introduction to Hanukkah for the general public but as stated above a tome of suggestions for expanding extant knowledge (with the added caveat that while Jacqueline Jules does indeed present a treasure trove of interesting supplemental Hanukkah information and details at the back of Light the Menorah!: A Hanukkah Handbook such as games, songs, recipes and crafts, she also and frustratingly has not provided a bibliography of works cited and used, she presents no suggestions for further study and reading, which in my opinion would positively, would greatly expand the teaching and learning value of Light the Menorah!: A Hanukkah Handbook).Chanukah typically falls in December, the same month as Christmas. In other words and in my opinion, Light the Menorah!: A Hanukkah Handbook is thus more a guidebook for the already initiated, for Jewish families who might desire to expand their celebrations or who might wish to imbue Hanukkah with more reflection and spirituality than it is a general introduction for those of us who are not Jewish but are interested in learning the main tenets of the Jewish holidays. While Jacqueline Jules' Light the Menorah!: A Hanukkah Handbook certainly does present itself as lyrical, as spiritually uplifting and although I certainly have very much appreciated the moral and philosophical reflections on the eight nights of the Hanukkah celebration and as to what they are, what they are supposed to represent (and have even started to at least somewhat enjoy Kristina Swarner's colourful but at the same time muted accompanying illustrations once I got used to the fact that mo While Jacqueline Jules' Light the Menorah!: A Hanukkah Handbook certainly does present itself as lyrical, as spiritually uplifting and although I certainly have very much appreciated the moral and philosophical reflections on the eight nights of the Hanukkah celebration and as to what they are, what they are supposed to represent (and have even started to at least somewhat enjoy Kristina Swarner's colourful but at the same time muted accompanying illustrations once I got used to the fact that most of her human figures do seem to have somewhat blurry and almost identical facial features), personally I have also found Light the Menorah!: A Hanukkah Handbook considerably more suitable and appropriate for individuals, for readers already for the most part strongly familiar with Hanukkah.
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