isha

Ohel Leah Synagogue

OLS: CONNECT

Kislev 5768 - December 2007 Hong Kong

Contents

KOL ISHA

Text Box: Chanukah is the Festival of Light, illuminating the darkness of the year. No matter how dark the period of our history or how deep the shadows of oppression; Chanukah has always celebrated the light of our Yiddishkeit. Today, when we as a people need not hide our faith, how much greater is the challenge we face to keep Chanukah in its truest sense. With commercialism rampant and other faith festivals of this season being secularised until their true meaning is at best obscure, and at worst totally lost, we must strive to keep the Chanukah lights burning. But just as Chanukah brings light to us, we must remember that we are charged with being ‘a light unto the Nations’. Let us never forget that each and everyone of us has a mitzvah to light up the world in the name of Judaism just as the Hasmoneans in their struggle against the occupying Greeks. We all carry within us the Divine spark and the commandment to bring that small flame to the world in which we live.

Olive oil has a protective effect against some types of malignant tumors: prostate, breast, colon, squamous cell, and oesophageal." Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, chairman of the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard University School of Pubic Health
"An olive-oil-rich diet is more effective than a low-fat diet in controlling and treating obesity. Moreover, it leads to longer-lasting weight loss and it is easier to keep to because it tastes good." Frank Sacks
Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University School of Public Health On the basis of these quotes and there are numerous more positive studies perhaps the frying for Chanukah does have to be perceived as the ‘unhealthy’ festival!

When I think of Chanukah, the two favourite foods that come to mind are hot doughnuts and latkes. The story dates back to the times when the Syrian King Antiochus was beaten by the Maccabees and on reclaiming the Temple, the oil miraculously lasted for eight days instead of one. Fried foods are not necessarily the top of the list for healthy eating, but the use of olive oil in our daily diet has been researched with positive effects.