Beginning in 2005, our first year here at Kendal at Granville, members
of our Diversity and Inclusion Committee have arranged for our observance of
Hanukkah each year.
This required a lot of study on the part of committee members since
none of us were Jewish. Much of the execution
of the plan which evolved for our observance fell to Eloise and me. This was probably due to the fact that Eloise
lived in Granville before moving to Kendal and knew Jewish people in the area
and over the years my husband and I had several close Jewish friends and had
also participated in community dialogs between Christians and Jews in the
Philadelphia area.
Together with the full committee we established a simple format for our
observance of Hanukkah. Our menorah is set
up on a table close to the main entrance to our community building. At sundown on the eight days of Hanukkah residents
are invited to join in the lighting of the lights and the saying of the traditional blessings and prayers.
On some nights we have been privileged to have Jewish couples from the
area join us. These have been special
times because they have shared with us the meaning of and the customs
associated with Hanukkah.
This year it has been our very good fortune to welcome into our Kendal
community two new residents, Steve and Connie, who are Jewish. They have joined enthusiastically in
community activities bringing us fresh new ideas. . Our Hanukkah observance was greatly enhanced by
their participation. One particularly
interesting aspect was their nightly show and tell about their collection of
menorahs. I personally learned from them
and look forward to learning more as I get to know them better.
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