HanukkahParty!

Dr Cohen and Shelly decided this year to have a Hanukkah party and invite the office staff. We cant pass up a good Jewish holiday, so we were excited to go :-)

 Shelly (with the help of Jody, their daughter) shared the story of the Maccabees and how they ran out of oil for their lamp (which stayed lit 24/7) and had to make a 8 day trip (4 days there and 4 back) to the nearest town to get more oil. And yet, their lamp remained lit ALL 8 days! A testament of Gods faithfulness!!!

We all were assigned a menorah and all the Jewish participants of the party sang the prayers that they sing. It was SO interesting *yes, i'm aware that i'm not using proper terms or fully explaining some of this... it was a neat experience, though, so cut me some slack ;-)

Here are Dr Cohen and his new associate (and fellow Jew) Dr Levine

Dr Cohen, Shelly and Dr Levine

Mack, however, found it much more interesting to play upstairs and run all around, torturing Dr Cohen and Shelly, no doubt, with his affinity to touching anything that looked breakable :-P

We really enjoyed learning about some Jewish customs! AND, we got to try some new foods! Latkes (pronounced "lat-ka") are fried mashed potato patties that are traditional at Hanukkah and they ALWAYS eat doughnuts to celebrate as well. Interestingly enough, my family has been unknowingly enjoying latkes for ages! Anytime we have left over mashed potatoes, mommie would always make patties and fry them the next day (the way poor people make a new dish out of leftovers! haha). DELISH!

If anyone gets the opportunity to attend any Jewish ceremony, I'd strongly encourage it. Regardless of your faith! But especially if you are a Christian... the Jewish culture and traditions are so RICH and for those of us who believe in Christ as messiah, it is incredible to attend these services and to hear of Gods faithfulness and to see the symbolism of how God, from the beginning, was preparing the hearts of His chosen people to accept His Son! Beautiful! (and I mean no disrespect by seeing my own faith in the traditions of the Jews... it is extremely meaningful!)