The Vicious Babushka

Moldovan Church Blames Jews for Priest's Menorah-Smashing Rampage

 Moldovan Orthodox Church: Jews to blame for menorah incident

Church calls Hanukkah attack on menorah in Chisinau 'unpleasant', but adds, 'We think it inappropriate to put a symbol of the Jewish cult in a public place.' Buenos Aires rabbi says desecration of menorah in city 'should not be blown out of proportion'

The Moldovan Orthodox Church on Wednesday blamed the local Jewish community for the recent rally in which a public menorah was torn down and a cross was put in its place.

During the December 13th incident, dozens of people led by an Orthodox priest smashed a menorah in Moldova's capital Chisinau, using hammers and iron bars to remove the candelabra during Hanukkah.

The 1.5 meter (5-foot)-tall ceremonial candelabrum was retrieved and reinstalled. The national government said in a statement that "hatred, intolerance and xenophobia" are unacceptable.

According to a report, published Monday by the Russian Interfax news agency, the church said in a statement, "We believe that this unpleasant incident in the center of the capital could have been avoided if the menorah had been placed near a memorial for victims of the Holocaust."

The church said it opposed the form of the protest, and that it respects "the feelings and belief of other cults that are legally registered on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, and expects a similar attitude from their side," according to the report.

"At the same time," the statement continued, "we think it inappropriate to put a symbol of the Jewish cult in a public place connected to the history and faith of our people, especially because Chanukah is classified by the cult books of Judaism as a 'holiday of blessing' that symbolizes the victory of Jews over non-Jews."

Read more at YNet.

Also, the comments at YouTube are sickening.

Empire State Building Lit For Hanukkah

Photo gallery at COLLive.com
 

White House to Kasher Kitchen for Hanukkah Party

 

The Obama White House throws its first Hanukkah party on Wednesday night, and the White House kitchen has been "koshered" -- undergone a special cleansing -- in order to serve kosher food at the reception President Obama and First Lady Michelle are hosting.

Obama's first Hanukkah celebration as president has not been without some controversy. Stories have appeared in the mainstream and Jewish press saying that the White House is shortchanging Jewish supporters -- who figured heavily in Obama's fundraising and political success -- by being stingy with the invitations. But Politics Daily has learned that the number of invitees for the Wednesday event is more than were invited in all but one of the previous years the party has been thrown, starting in 2001.

The White House told me 550 guests are invited this year. During the Bush years, there were 265 invitees in 2001; 373 in 2002; 500 in 2003; 387 in 2004; 427 in 2005; 477 in 2006; 584 in 2007; and 520 in 2008.

I've seen a few reports that the Obama White House cut back its list from 800 guests; that's just a bubbe meise, a good Yiddish phrase that means, roughly, "old wives' tale." (In more modern times, it might be used to describe an urban legend.)

On the food front, I was at the White House holiday party on Monday (technically, by the way, not called a Christmas party) and the fare was fine but very unkosher: shrimp, for example, and dairy and meat products served on the same table. There were also tiny potato latkes (pancakes), a traditional Hanukkah food.

For the Hanukkah gathering, the White House has ordered food from a kosher catering company. The White House kitchen has to be koshered because the food will be served up from there. (Once kosher food makes contact with non-kosher food or kitchen items, it is no longer kosher.) Rabbi Levi Shemtov -- Chabad's man in Washington -- from the Lubavitch Center is supervising the koshering effort, as he did during the Bush years when the same process took place.

Read more at Politics Daily. 

JTA must be really pissed about the kosher part.

Moldovan Priest Leads Mob in Knocking Over Hanukkah Menorah

Dozens of people led by an Orthodox priest smashed a menorah in Moldova's capital capital Chisinau, using hammers and iron bars to remove the candelabra during Hanukkah, officials said.

The 1.5 meter (5-foot)-tall ceremonial candelabrum was retrieved, reinstalled and is now under police guard.

Police said they were investigating but there was no official reaction from Moldova's Orthodox Church, which is part of the Russian Orthodox Church and counts 70 percent of Moldovans as members.

The national government said in a statement that "hatred, intolerance and xenophobia" are unacceptable.

Jewish leader Alexandr Bilinkis called on the Orthodox Church to take a position over the priest's actions.

The Jewish community was thriving before World War II but there are now estimated to be just 12,000 Jews in the former Soviet Republic. Twenty years ago there were 66,000 Jews. Many immigrated to Israel.

YNet.

Neo-Nazis Disrupt Hanukkah Ceremony in CT

 

FAIRFIELD -- Pouring rain failed to dampen the spirts of a small group of families huddled on the Sherman Green gazebo to light a menorah on the third night of Hanukkah Sunday.

Neither did three masked men, who carrying Nazi flags and shouting obscenities, tried to disrupt the ceremony until they fled when police arrived.

"I'm glad I was there," said Fairfield First Selectman Kenneth Flatto.

So was Rabbi Shlame Landa who staged the ceremony for Chabad of Fairfield.

"It's important to see we don't back down from spreading goodness and light," said Landa.

The men, dressed in black, showed up just as the ceremony was beginning, stayed on the sidewalk about 20 yards from the gazebo. Each carried a flag held in outstretched arms. One flag bore a swastika, another an iron cross.

From his vantage point, Flatto said he could hear obscenities, but never felt threatened. He did, however, call police.

In the interim, a number of passers-by not involved in the ceremony started yelling at the masked men. Some waved at the menorah lighters. A few joined in the ceremony. When police showed up, the men left in a car headed west on the Post Road with police trailing behind them. It is unclear if the men were stopped by police.

Flatto said he came to the ceremony to show his support. He said it was important to acknowledge and celebrate as many religions and ethnicities as possible.

"These people came to try and mar a ceremony," he said of the masked men. "They did not succeed. Everyone there pretty much ignored that and focused on what is good about the holiday ... a celebration of the festival of lights."

Read more at Connecticut Post 

UK Jews Light World's First Whisky Menorah

 

WHAT is thought to be the world's first ever 'whisky menorah' was unveiled this evening (Sunday) to mark the Jewish festival of lights.

Dozens of people turned out at Buckhurst Hill Chabad, in Princes Road, to see the seven-foot-high ceremonial candle holder - made of clear pipes - filled with 65 litres of 17-year-old Scottish single malt in celebration of Chanukah.

Whisky from the menorah was then poured from a tap in the structure's stem and auctioned off in bottles by Rabbi Odom Brandman to raise money for a new centre for the area's Jewish community.

Rabbi Brandman - who had earlier led the lighting of a publically displayed menorah in nearby Queen's Road - thanked distillary firm Tullibardine for donating the whisky.

He said: "We like to celebrate Chanukah a little differently, and had a menorah made of old cans last year, and out of chocolate the year before.

"This year we decided to go for the world's first whisky menorah.

Read more at ThisisLondon.co.uk

The Gollum of Austria: Muslim Bites off Jew's Finger During Hanukkah Candle-Lighting in Vienna

Tricksy Jewses! We hates them! We hates them, precioussss!   

 A Muslim man attacked a Chabad rabbi Saturday night as he was conducting the annual ceremony to light the public Chanukah menorah in Stefenfaltz Square in the city of Vienna, Austria.

The attacker hurled himself at Rabbi Dov Gruzman, principal of the city’s Jewish school run by the Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidic movement, and began punching him, a local resident told Arutz Sheva.

As the rabbi tried to hold off his attacker, the Muslim suddenly bit his victim, severing part of his finger in the process. The Muslim was caught and arrested by police, and was held for questioning. The rabbi was evacuated to the hospital where doctors rushed to reattach his finger.

Gruzman told Arutz Sheva that the Muslim had raced towards the entrance at the beginning of the ceremony and began to curse the Jews who were there and the Jewish people in general.

"I tried to hold him off, to keep him away from the entrance and he bit me really hard, and that’s how he injured me," he said.

The event itself did not discourage Rabbi Gruzman, and in fact strengthened his resolve. “We are glad that such an event occurred,” he said.

"Today, because of what happened, we are planning [a much larger event]. We increased the number of sufganiot [Chanukah jelly doughnuts] from 50 to 700 – and this is our answer to the attack and to anti-Semitism."

However, the rabbi himself will be unable to participate in Sunday evening’s ceremony due to the fact that he is still hospitalized, and being monitored for infection from the bite. Nevertheless, he emphasized, through the Chanukah lighting ceremony he sends his blessing to every Jew around the world.

Israel National News.

Hanukkah Around the World, 2009

Schedule of worldwide Hanukkah events to watch live!

Mea Shearim, Jerusalem. Reuters. 

Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel. AP Photo. 

Prague, Czech Republic. Reuters. 

Moscow, Russia. AP Photo. 

Sofia, Bulgaria. Reuters. 

Berlin,Germany. AP Photo. 

Budapest, Hungary. Reuters. 

The Vatican! (Just kidding. It's Temple Emanuel, in NYC) AP Photo.

We will be posting more photos of Hanukkah celebrations throughout the week!

Enjoy Hanukkah

 

Babushka wishes everyone a peaceful, happy, and radiant Hanukkah! 

White House Hanukkah Party: "One Big Overblown Latke"

 

WASHINGTON - At the first Hanukkah party in the Obama White House, a Jewish student choir will sing in sweet harmony, the two young children of a soldier deployed in Iraq will light a 19th-century silver menorah from Prague and President Obama and his wife, Michelle, will greet more than 500 guests in a celebration that is expected to spill from the State Room to the East Room.

But to the dismay of some administration officials, the plans for next week's party - one of the hottest holiday events for the nation's Jewish elite - have been overtaken by feverish debate over the size of the guest list, the language on the invitations and what this says (or does not say) about Mr. Obama's relationship with Jews.

President George W. Bush, who began the tradition of White House Hanukkah parties, invited 600 people to his last party, administration officials say. But rumors spread wildly, first in the Israeli press and then locally, that President Bush had invited 800 people and that the Obamas were planning to invite only 400. (Administration officials say they have invited 550 people.)

The invitations have also caused some consternation because they make no mention of Hanukkah, inviting guests to "a holiday reception" on Dec. 16.

In an opinion article published by JTA, the Jewish news agency, Tevi Troy, a former Bush administration liaison to Jewish groups, warned that the Obama White House had given Jewish Americans "a number of reasons to fear that it takes its votes for granted." Mr. Troy cited as examples the administration's call for a freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the decision to honor Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, who has been accused by some Democratic lawmakers of anti-Israel bias.

Mr. Troy said the reduced guest list created "a nagging sense that there may be a studied callousness at work here."

Read more at NY Times. 

Rahm Emanuel to Light Giant D.C. Menorah

   

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will be lighting Chabad's National Menorah in Washington, COLlive has learned.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, the most senior Jewish official in the Obama administration, will participate in lighting the National Menorah in Washington, DC, COLlive.com has learned.

The annual event on the Ellipse, sponsored by American Friends of Lubavitch, traditionally features a musical performance by "The Three Cantors" and a military band - this year it will be the U.S. Air Force Band.

According to sources, there is unprecedented interest in this year's Lighting Ceremony, and nearly all tickets for the event - some 4,000 in total - have been distributed.

Only some standing room tickets remain to the Sunday, December 13 event and are available through NationalMenorah.org.

Many more can still view the lighting from outside the secured area or by tuning in to XM Satellite Radio at 4:00 pm EST.

Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Director of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) in Washington, DC, confirmed this information.

"We look forward to one of our most successful National Menorah events ever, G-d willing," Shemtov told COLlive.com.

"We have expanded the site and equipment to accommodate the larger crowd this year, and are working through the other necessary logistics as we speak."

The National Menorah was first lit in 1979 in the presence of then-President Jimmy Carter, and is the most high profile Chanukah event in Washington, D.C. with all major news networks and outlets covering its proceedings every year. 

COLLive.com.

Watch wingnut heads explode! Leftist heads already exploded over the White House Hanukkah Party Invitation Downsize.
 

Menorah Wars: Menorah Ban Protects City From Frivolous Lawsuits, City Manager Says

DELRAY BEACH — When City Commissioner Adam Frankel noticed that Old School Square had no menorah alongside the 100-foot Christmas tree this year, all he wanted was a simple answer — something along the lines of, "Oops, we'll put one up right away."

Instead, he got a memo from City Manager David Harden that left him upset.

Harden wrote that a temple had sponsored a menorah in past years but had not contacted the city this year. He also attached a 2006 legal opinion from a city attorney. And Harden added that the city's tree-only display "has kept us out of any litigation on the matter and has avoided Old School Square having to allow things on their grounds they would prefer not to have there."

As Frankel read the Monday e-mail, Harden was calling a menorah one of those "things" better left out.

"In my view, that is offensive," Frankel said. He added: "Inclusion is better than exclusion, and Delray has always been a city that celebrates its ethnic diversity."

But the city manager said Frankel may have misunderstood his words. Harden said he had been referring to a 1995 ruling in which the U.S. Supreme Court said the Ku Klux Klan had the right to put a cross next to a Christmas tree and a menorah on the state capitol lawn in Columbus, Ohio.

Having only a secular display, such as the tree, puts the city at less risk, Harden maintained.

"I have no personal objection to menorahs whatsoever," he said. "But Christmas displays have been the subject of litigation, and the city needs to be cautious about how it handles the issue."

After the issue came up again at tonight's city commission meeting, Harden said his e-mail needs to be understood in the context of the legal opinion attached to it.

"Just be aware that if we go that route, we may end up with that type of controversy," Harden said, referring to the Klan case.

Read more at Palm Beach Post.

JTA Freaks Out Over Obama Hanukkah Party Downsize

Op-Ed: Obama must beware of the Chanukah snub

November 23, 2009

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Officials in the Obama administration have decided that they will be cutting the guest list in half for this year’s Chanukah party at the White House.

The Jerusalem Post, which first reported this development, suggested that this will be politically harder for Obama the Democrat than it would have been for Bush the Republican.

As one of President Bush’s advisers for many of his Chanukah parties, I can assure you that it would not have been easy in the previous White House, either.

During the Bush years, Jewish staffers were inundated by people who wanted to be invited to Bush’s Chanukah soirees. Karl Rove once proclaimed at a West Wing meeting about the upcoming holiday parties that invites to the White House Chanukah party were officially the toughest ticket in town.

Bush’s first Chanukah party, in 2001, gained national attention as the first one ever thrown in the White House residence. Each year, Bush continued the tradition, adding various refinements along the way.

The first year, the children of a White House staffer lit the Chanukah menorah in a ceremony kicking off the party. In subsequent years, Bush selected as candle lighters children of Jewish men and women in uniform, the father of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and -- in a joint ceremony to acknowledge Israel’s 60th birthday -- the grandsons of Harry Truman, the president who first recognized the new nation of Israel, and of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister.

Another refinement was the introduction of kosher food. The party was not kosher at first, as kosher food is significantly more expensive than non-kosher food -- 33 percent more, according to an estimate in The Jerusalem Post. Initially the White House did have a table with kosher food for guests who kept the dietary laws, but this led to confusion over which offerings were kosher and which were not. One year, due to a labeling mishap, some observant Jews accidentally ate from the non-kosher tables, leading to high-decibel complaints directed at the prim and proper White House ushers. [Oh noes!] From then on, Mrs. Bush decreed that the parties would be completely kosher, regardless of the expense.

Read more at JTA.org.

What a crisis! What pissed off JTA more than anything else was the kosher food on the menu. The horror of Jews actually requesting to keep kosher! I seem to recall several years ago that the Kremlin koshered one of its kitchens for a state visit from the former President of Israel, Moshe Katsav.