Tag Archives: olive oil

Manischewitz Tiki Torch Menorah

Posted on 12/05/2015 | 2 comments

Manischewitz Tiki Torch oil Menorah

A new lamp for the concord of our souls at the festival of lights: the Manischewitz Tiki Torch Menorah.

Happy Hanukkah, friends. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Activity, Crafts, Hanukkah

Tagged menorah, olive oil, tiki torch, upcycle

Oil Menorahs, DIY or Buy

Posted on 12/03/2014 | Comments Off

Oil menorah, cheap but visible

When I first started doing Jewish holidays I remember being baffled by the Hanukkah candles. Wasn’t the Hanukkah story all about oil? Most every kid’s book highlights the miraculous oil, we fry our latkes and sufganiyot in oil, but every year we (and all the Jews I knew) pull out boxes of multicolored candles to light in honor of the oil. Shouldn’t we light oil to honor oil? Continue reading →

Comments Off on Oil Menorahs, DIY or Buy

Posted in Crafts, Hanukkah

Tagged menorah, olive oil

“Oil Crush” synagogue program: Make Oil like a Maccabee

Posted on 11/27/2013 | 12 comments

Olive Crushing Installation

This year, instead of a Chanukah carnival, I envisioned something new, or rather, something very, very old. Our synagogue Religious School held a Chanukah “Oil Crush” program. In a nutshell, we made olive oil—shemen zayit—just like the Maccabees, with a commissioned replica of a Hellenistic-era olive crushing installation: crushing wheel, pivot pole (power shaft) and crushing basin. Students from Pre-K to 7^th grade took turns pushing the pole to rotate the crushing wheel over fresh olives straight from the tree (ordered from California). Continue reading →

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Posted in Activity, Crafts, Edible Craft, Hanukkah

Tagged lesson plan, menorah, olive oil

Hanukkah Parent classroom visits

Posted on 12/07/2012 | 5 comments

tin oil menorah with glass or plastic cups

Here’s a link to my buffet of options for Hanukkah Parent School Visits: what to bring, what to read, what might happen. Please add your experiences below or on that page. We can learn from each other.

And here’s what I’ve chosen from the buffet for my own classroom visit this time:

After last year’s fizzle of a oil menorah demo (where none of the homemade wicks worked), Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in Activity, Hanukkah, Jewish kids in nonJewish school

Tagged chanukah, menorah, olive oil

Hanukkah Parent guidelines

Posted on 12/05/2010 | 4 comments

A Duplo Temple and a jar of olives.

Guidelines for Hanukkah Parent visits: where are they?

All over the country, volunteer parents are visiting their child’s classrooms and representing the entire Jewish people in 15 minutes or less.

In the spirit of “sharing traditions,” we bring a book, maybe some dreidels, some gelt (its never too early to jump-start a child’s association of Jews and money…see below), and a menorah. Hands-on parents bring all this stuff, and we check if we are allowed to actually light the menorah (and if we are allowed to keep the candles burning or blow them out far, far from the smoke detector).

Out of the dozens of books I’ve accumulated the last 16 years, plus the books I see at shul and in the library and in the bookstore (that just closed forever), why is it I can’t find a single one I LIKE? Continue reading →