Eight Crazy Nights!
You might think that Chanukah and the start of winter would slow down life in St. Petersburg, but you'd be wrong. Chanukah this year has been crazy. During the day, we are preparing for being away from the city for the next 5 weeks--that's right, a week teaching at the Adain Lo winter camp, a week at EVA's camp, and three weeks in Israel. In the evenings, we attend many of the various community events that celebrate the Festival of Lights. Bill Bryson once commented that English has plenty of words for "vacation"(see them here) but it really needs a word for all the work that happens before you leave for vacation (not to mention, a word for sifting through your 500 emails after vacation!). This Chanukah, the only light around here is busy burning the midnight oil!
Just to give you a sense of what's going on on this side of the world, here's a rundown of what we've been doing each evening:
First night of Chanukah - Chanukah started with a bang, with three celebrations in one day! First, we participated in a ceremony here at YESOD, with about forty people coming to see the menorah lit. What makes this menorah so special is that it's 15-feet high! The rabbi joked that he felt like a cosmonaut going up on the machine to light the candles. Then, in the afternoon we went to the Jewish War Veterans' building for their festive banquest, celebrating Chanukah, Shabbat, and the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Moscow commemoration. It was a beautiful, moving ceremony, with a contingent from Moscow arriving to tell their stories of this famous battle. It was fantastic to meet Jewish heroes who risked their lives to fight the Nazis, though I was saddened to think how many of these people's friends, colleagues, and fellow soldiers were not able to join us. To our surprise, we were suddenly "enlisted" (like the pun?) to help with the ceremony, as we were the only ones in the room that knew the Hebrew blessings! We wrapped up the celebrations with a quiet Shabbat dinner and a little dreidl-spinning at home.
Second night - Although Alyson might disagree with me, this was the night where I had the most fun, because I didn't have to do any work! Our Chabad friends, Bentzi and Leah, invited us over for Shabbat lunch (so far, we have yet to be invited over by a Russian family; Israelis here, like Bentzi and Leah and Menachem and Lilach, have shown us tremendous kindness and hospitality). There was such an interesting crowd of people at their house: Russians who live in Israel, Israelis who live in Russia, and we met a few representatives of a small but growing group of Russians who made aliyah but have returned to Russia for a host of reasons. Anyway, the conversation was lively and we ended up staying there till 5:30 for candle-lighting and singing. Bentzi is awesome: as soon as we were done with Shabbat zmirot, we started Chanukah singing; when that was over, he turned on Matisyahu and started singing that!
Third night - This was our big night, and our contribution to the SPB Jewish spirit. We hosted our own Chanukah party, with twenty-five adults and five children coming for Alyson's home-made latkes and kugel, store-bought sufganiot, songs, laughter, and more. Unfortunately, though we invited dozens of our Russian friends, only five actually showed up. This is just another bizarre cultural barrier that we've come up against: we aren't invited to Russian people's homes and, in general, it seems that they are uncomfortable coming to ours. Or maybe they're just too busy: we've definitely noticed that Russians work longer hours, including Sundays. Regardless, opening our home is our favorite activity: Alyson makes the food, I do the shopping and cleaning, and we both have fun as we get to know the people who live on this side of the world.
Fourth night - Anglisky Club rocks! Alyson organized a party for her Anglisky Club, inviting some of our native English-speaking friends and setting up a nice festive meal. We talked about Chanukah, and the students got to know two of our friends. From left to right: Misha, Autumn (American), Alyson, Lera, Alina, Olga, Genia, Alisa, Yura, and Tamara (British). What was crazy was that, for many of the attendees, it was their first time spinning a dreidl or lighting a menorah. So we were excited to lead them in saying the blessings and enjoying the festive Chanukah spirit.
Fifth night - We went to the synagogue for a fun celebration of Chanukah with SPB's Israeli community. As I mentioned above, Bentzi is Israeli, and loves Israeli rock (he and I have been known to belt out some of our favorite songs). So, he organized a community-bulding dinner for SPB's Israeli expats at the kosher restaurant. Alyson and I went, not knowing that a famous Israeli rock star, Micki Gavrielov (the original composer of the well-known song "Oof Gozal"), would be there! We enjoyed the music, kosher chicken, humus, and getting to practice our Hebrew. Unfortunately, my Hebrew lives in the exact same part of my brain where my Russian lives, so they get mixed up all the time. It was frustrating, but comical at the same time.
Sixth night - This was a huge night for the St. Petersburg Jewish community. Every year, one of the Jewish oligarchs rents out the largest venue in SPB, Ledovy Dvoryets (the Ice Palace - think of an arena the size of the MCI Center or Orlando Arena), and hosts a gigantic Chanukah extravaganza. I was expecting something like a mainstream concert with some Jewish bands, but the groups that played were just strange. You'll think so, too. In the picture is a women's singing group from Belarus; the words say "Chanukah - 5767. "Check out the videos of the Accordion Rock singer who looks like Elvis (Video #1 - Video #2). And then there's the Jewish rock American-Idol-wannabee (Video) who sang in Russian, Hebrew, and Yiddish, and had a bunch of gyrating backup dancers. We actually found the concert to be kinda boring, as most of the songs were in Yiddish (only in Russia!) and we didn't get any of the jokes.
Seventh night - Alyson has a conference call to prepare for the Pesach Project. I'm finishing up the work I needed to do to get ready for the Adain Lo camp. Compared to the other nights, this one is extremely low-key and a lot less fun!
Eighth night - Late Thursday night, we were invited to Elazar and Leah's - another Chabad couple who heard about us from their friend, Rabbi Kot (who had us at his house in Tallinn!). It's definitely a small world! So we enjoyed Shabbat dinner at their house, where they have three very cute kids all under the age of 9. The conversation was very nice, although they speak very little English and my Hebrew is constantly getting mixed up with my Russian in a frustrating, but also quite comical, language tzimmes. Because the kids go to bed early, we were home by 9 pm or so, which was really nice.
As a quick aside, you can subscribe to our videos on YouTube, so you'll get an email every time I post a video there. I'm not quite sure how to do it, but start by registering your own username, and then try it by clicking here.
Hope you have a great end of your Chanukah!
Just to give you a sense of what's going on on this side of the world, here's a rundown of what we've been doing each evening:
First night of Chanukah - Chanukah started with a bang, with three celebrations in one day! First, we participated in a ceremony here at YESOD, with about forty people coming to see the menorah lit. What makes this menorah so special is that it's 15-feet high! The rabbi joked that he felt like a cosmonaut going up on the machine to light the candles. Then, in the afternoon we went to the Jewish War Veterans' building for their festive banquest, celebrating Chanukah, Shabbat, and the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Moscow commemoration. It was a beautiful, moving ceremony, with a contingent from Moscow arriving to tell their stories of this famous battle. It was fantastic to meet Jewish heroes who risked their lives to fight the Nazis, though I was saddened to think how many of these people's friends, colleagues, and fellow soldiers were not able to join us. To our surprise, we were suddenly "enlisted" (like the pun?) to help with the ceremony, as we were the only ones in the room that knew the Hebrew blessings! We wrapped up the celebrations with a quiet Shabbat dinner and a little dreidl-spinning at home.Second night - Although Alyson might disagree with me, this was the night where I had the most fun, because I didn't have to do any work! Our Chabad friends, Bentzi and Leah, invited us over for Shabbat lunch (so far, we have yet to be invited over by a Russian family; Israelis here, like Bentzi and Leah and Menachem and Lilach, have shown us tremendous kindness and hospitality). There was such an interesting crowd of people at their house: Russians who live in Israel, Israelis who live in Russia, and we met a few representatives of a small but growing group of Russians who made aliyah but have returned to Russia for a host of reasons. Anyway, the conversation was lively and we ended up staying there till 5:30 for candle-lighting and singing. Bentzi is awesome: as soon as we were done with Shabbat zmirot, we started Chanukah singing; when that was over, he turned on Matisyahu and started singing that!
Third night - This was our big night, and our contribution to the SPB Jewish spirit. We hosted our own Chanukah party, with twenty-five adults and five children coming for Alyson's home-made latkes and kugel, store-bought sufganiot, songs, laughter, and more. Unfortunately, though we invited dozens of our Russian friends, only five actually showed up. This is just another bizarre cultural barrier that we've come up against: we aren't invited to Russian people's homes and, in general, it seems that they are uncomfortable coming to ours. Or maybe they're just too busy: we've definitely noticed that Russians work longer hours, including Sundays. Regardless, opening our home is our favorite activity: Alyson makes the food, I do the shopping and cleaning, and we both have fun as we get to know the people who live on this side of the world.
Fourth night - Anglisky Club rocks! Alyson organized a party for her Anglisky Club, inviting some of our native English-speaking friends and setting up a nice festive meal. We talked about Chanukah, and the students got to know two of our friends. From left to right: Misha, Autumn (American), Alyson, Lera, Alina, Olga, Genia, Alisa, Yura, and Tamara (British). What was crazy was that, for many of the attendees, it was their first time spinning a dreidl or lighting a menorah. So we were excited to lead them in saying the blessings and enjoying the festive Chanukah spirit.
Sixth night - This was a huge night for the St. Petersburg Jewish community. Every year, one of the Jewish oligarchs rents out the largest venue in SPB, Ledovy Dvoryets (the Ice Palace - think of an arena the size of the MCI Center or Orlando Arena), and hosts a gigantic Chanukah extravaganza. I was expecting something like a mainstream concert with some Jewish bands, but the groups that played were just strange. You'll think so, too. In the picture is a women's singing group from Belarus; the words say "Chanukah - 5767. "Check out the videos of the Accordion Rock singer who looks like Elvis (Video #1 - Video #2). And then there's the Jewish rock American-Idol-wannabee (Video) who sang in Russian, Hebrew, and Yiddish, and had a bunch of gyrating backup dancers. We actually found the concert to be kinda boring, as most of the songs were in Yiddish (only in Russia!) and we didn't get any of the jokes.Eighth night - Late Thursday night, we were invited to Elazar and Leah's - another Chabad couple who heard about us from their friend, Rabbi Kot (who had us at his house in Tallinn!). It's definitely a small world! So we enjoyed Shabbat dinner at their house, where they have three very cute kids all under the age of 9. The conversation was very nice, although they speak very little English and my Hebrew is constantly getting mixed up with my Russian in a frustrating, but also quite comical, language tzimmes. Because the kids go to bed early, we were home by 9 pm or so, which was really nice.
As a quick aside, you can subscribe to our videos on YouTube, so you'll get an email every time I post a video there. I'm not quite sure how to do it, but start by registering your own username, and then try it by clicking here.
Hope you have a great end of your Chanukah!
posted by Matt Fieldman at 4:04 PM
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