2 posts tagged “menora”

Stefan and Sean say...

Below is the letter we sent to Stefan's niece Sarah (4 1/2 yrs old ) and Sean's nephew Zachary (1 yr old). 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Sarah & Zachary –

Happy Hanukkah!

For 8 nights, the Jewish faith celebrates the festival of Hanukkah.  Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem in 165 BCE after the Temple had been profaned by the Hellenistic Emperor Antiochus IV.  At the time of the rededication, there was just one day's worth of pure oil left that was needed to keep the Temple menorah burning. But tradition says a great miracle happened: It lasted for eight days!

Each year, Jews light candles in their hanukkiot (Hanukkah menorahs) to symbolize the miracle. On the first night of Hanukkah, one candle is placed in the menorah.  On each successive night, another candle is added.  By the last night of Hanukkah, eight candles are glowing brightly in celebration of this beautiful festival.

As you light each candle, say the following prayer the first night:

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by His commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has kept us alive, and has preserved us, and enabled us to reach this time.

And on each of the remaining 7 nights recite this prayer as you light each candle:

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by His commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old, at this season.

Hanukkah, like Christmas, celebrates not just the lighting of a candle. In a box we each sent you both are your Hanukkah gifts for each night.  Each is numbered to make it easier to choose what to open! 

Enjoy your heritage and learn from it Sarah & Zachary.  It will always teach you something about yourself.

Love -  

Uncle Sean and Uncle Stefan

Sean & Stefan say...

Happy Holidays everyone! Well McFreed fans, the 2007 holiday season has begun and its time to decorate!!! 

This is our second Christmas and Hanukkah together, but the first living together so we are very excited! We wanted to start off celebrating our family and faith traditions right so we showed our pride with a menora and a Xmas tree.  

As some of you know Sean was brought up in the Christian faith (lapsed Catholic who attends the gay-friendly Metropolitian Community Churches) and Stefan was brought up in the Jewish tradition, very much left of Reform. This means the McFreed household is inter-faith. Christmas and Hanukkah are both celebrated here!

Hanukkah this year begins at sundown December 4th and ends at nightfall December 12th.

Here is the official McFreed Hanukkah display! We plan to observe the celebration by lighting the candles together and partaking in gift giving and traditional Hanukkah foods of potato latkes with applesauce.

Your McFreeds also put together a Xmas tree!  We kept with Stefan's love of a mid-century style and kept in mind the purple shades of paint in our front rooms of the condo when picking our tree. Ultimately, we went with an artificial 7 1/2 slim white Christmas tree! Never fear, Sean's "legacy" ornament know by the politically incorrect name "Chemo Girl" has made it on the tree this year - again!  Check it out!  We went crazy with the ornaments!  Click on our pictures to get a closer look at all our decorations!