8 books to help rekindle the Hanukkah spirit - Military Books - Military Times

8 books to help rekindle the Hanukkah spirit

Jews worldwide will light the first candle on their Hanukkah menorahs Sunday evening, adding candles for seven more nights.

The ritual recalls when, in the second century B.C., the Maccabees wrested the Temple in Jerusalem from pagans who had defiled it. Although the victors had only one night’s worth of oil for the sanctuary’s eternal lamp, they lit the flame. God, Jews believe, rewarded their faithfulness with a miracle: The oil lasted eight days, until more was ready.

American Jews have adopted the tradition of holiday gift-giving from their Christian neighbors. USA Today consulted bookstores and experts at the Jewish Museum in Manhattan and the Jewish Publication Society to find eight gift books befitting the message of the Hanukkah celebration: rededication to one’s faith.

About faith

“Why Faith Matters”

by David Wolpe (HarperOne, $24.95)

Wolpe, rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, arms anyone of flagging faith or troubled spirit with Jewish philosophy and theology in fresh, elegant prose. Faith, he writes, is “a gift of God, who fashioned this world, whose goodness sustains it and whose teachings could save it if only we — believers and deniers both — would listen, would love.”

About finding your path

“My Jesus Year”

by Benyamin Cohen (HarperOne, $24.95)

If there’s a prodigal son on your Hanukkah gift list, Cohen’s book, subtitled “A Rabbi’s Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith,” could be the book to get. Cohen, who grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home, spent a year exploring Christian life. He visits Mormons and megachurches and the mosh pit at a Christian concert before concluding there are “many roads leading to spiritual maturity,” but Judaism is the path for him.

About cultural history

“Landmark of the Spirit: The Eldridge Street Synagogue”

by Annie Polland (Yale University Press, $35)

For a holiday that started with the restoration of a synagogue, here’s an illustrated history of the 1887 Eldridge Street Synagogue, a National Historic Landmark on New York’s Lower East Side. Historian Polland weaves into the story of the synagogue’s construction, decline and restoration, completed last year, the faces and voices of a century of Jewish life in America.

About Jewish writers and artists

“From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books”

by Arie Kaplan (Jewish Publication Society, $25)

The Hanukkah story features heroes facing long odds, so comics buffs may love this artful and surprising history of the Jewish writers and artists behind some of America’s best-loved comic characters. Comedian and comics writer Kaplan details how immigrant struggles for survival translated into superheroes and splashy art of impossible daring. It’s jammed with illustrations and interviews.

About Judaica collections

“Five Centuries of Hanukkah Lamps From the Jewish Museum”

by Susan L. Braunstein (Jewish Museum, $60)

Magnificent photos of menorahs from across the centuries star in this hefty hardcover catalog of the Jewish Museum’s collection. Braunstein, the museum’s curator of Judaica, details the art and story behind candelabras, from chiseled stone and hammered bronze to modern twisting metal. One chapter calls it “Eight Nights, 1,000 Tales.”

About food and family

“The Children’s Jewish Holiday Kitchen”

Joan Nathan, illustrations by Brook Scudder (Schocken Books, $16)

The cover of this recipe collection is irresistible — a menorah made of little candle-topped cupcakes. Nathan may be the pre-eminent modern writer on Jewish cuisine, so this 1987 cookbook is still the go-to source for families who want to make their treats together. Lemony’s latke, take note: Nathan offers a potato-vegetable variation. Also here, Israel’s Hanukkah favorite treat, fried jelly doughnuts called “sufganiot.”

About a little latke

“The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming”

by Lemony Snicket, illustrations by Lisa Brown (McSweeney’s Books, $9.95)

Everyone will scream “AAAHHHH!” along with this fried potato pancake (the traditional treat for Hanukkah) when he leaps from the skillet and races through a world dominated by Christmas trappings. The latke howls in frustration when everyone tries to peg him as part of Christmas. Hanukkah, he insists, is “a totally different thing.” He triumphs in an ending that’s both truly Jewish and typically Snicket.

About defeating evil

“Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins”

by Eric Kimmel, illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman (Holiday House, $6.95)

Hershel rescues a village that has been frightened out of celebrating Hanukkah by goblins who haunt the synagogue and blow out the candles. With courage and wit, he plays on the goblins’ greed to defeat them and restore the holiday to the faithful. Kimmel’s book is a classic, and Hyman’s evocative illustrations of Eastern European life made it a Caldecott Honor book.