Miracle of Hanukkah!

This Christmas eve, Doris and I had a most unique evening as we observed Hanukkah (Hebrew: חנוכה‎, alt. Chanukah) with my Jewish friends, Dana and Gideon. 

The lighting of the menorah.

Hanukkah is also known as the Festival of Lights and it is an eight-day Jewish festival commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE.

In 168 B.C.E. the Jews' holy Temple was seized by Hellenist Syrians and dedicated to the worship of Zeus. This led to some of the Jewish citizens, led by Judah Maccabee and his soldiers, to fight back. After attacking the Greek soldiers, Maccabee and his followers stepped into the temple and found many things missing or broken, including the golden menorah. 

They cleaned and repaired the temple, and decided to have a big dedication ceremony. To light the menorah, they looked everywhere for oil but found only a small flask with enough oil to light the menorah for one day. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days, which gave them enough time to obtain new oil to keep the menorah lit. 

Today Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight days by lighting candles in a menorah every night, thus commemorating the eight-day miracle. Hanukkah may occur from late december on the Gregorian calendar, and this year, it happens to coincide with the eve of Christmas. Click here to read more about the Festival of Hanukkah.

After that, it was a great time of feasting over beef stew, salad, rice, beer and Turkish coffee. It was an absolutely beautiful evening!

Winter Wonderland

Three consecutive days of snow and the result was 12 inches of snow. 

We needed to shovel the snow about every 3 hours, if not it would be difficult to shovel the accumulated snow. The worst is that the snow would turn into ice and it would be slippery to walk on. Passers-by could sue us if they fell on our pavement!

Daniel was hard at work. He didn't mind because it was a good workout for him. I preferred to take photos of him hard at work. 

Washington D.C Part III

Breakfast at the Firefly restaurant before our day-long trek across some of the nation's most revered sites.

A shot in the park outside the presidential palace. Can you see the White House in the background?

The hallowed grounds of the Arlington National Cemetery, where there are said to be three burials a day on average.

The burial site of President John F Kennedy. In the background is the Eternal Flame.

The excerpt of the famous speech that President Kennedy gave that is now immortalized in US culture.

The Tomb of the Unknown [Union] Soldiers that died in the course of the U.S. Civil War.

The Iwo Jima memorial established to commemorate the efforts of the Marine Corps in WWII.

Next up, we headed to the Pentagon Memorial to visit the site of the attack on September 11, 2001.

There is a bench for all 184 victims who perished at the Pentagon site. Benches with victims on the plane are arranged so that those reading the engraved name will be facing skyward along the path the plane traveled 

The benches representing the victims who were inside the Pentagon are arranged so those reading the names will face the Pentagon's south facade, where the plane hit.

The United States Capitol - The seat of government in America.

The U.S. Supreme Court.

The Library of Congress.

Washington D.C Part II

National Museum of American History

C3PO at the museum, and the latest model, R3D3 posing beside it. 

Doesn't this look like a sword?

At the top of Washington Monument. 

Pardon the blur photos, there was a glass in front of the lens. 

Like the earlier photos on Washington Monument, this photo wasn't edited. What a difference a sun makes. 

In the background you have the Lincoln Memorial.

The Lincoln Memorial

A shot of the Washington Monument from the reflective pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. A classic picture in many 'Visit Washington' guidebooks...