Word: hanukkah
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...spirit cheers the campus, the annual sense of happiness and joy usually sets in sometime early December. This is something I used to look forward to, but now I realize that for me this time of year will never be the same. Last year, on the first night of Hanukkah, Shira B. Palmer-Sherman ’02, one of my dearest friends, died after having been hit by a car nearly a week earlier. I’ve spent the year since then mourning her death, missing Shira desperately, and wondering how the world could possibly go on without...
...public celebration of Christmas with Jewish concerns. While that might not necessarily be the best policy to adopt (all holidays of all religions couldn’t be similarly honored), such an action makes more sense from within a Jewish context than putting menorahs next to Christmas trees. Hanukkah and Christmas are juxtaposed by the calendar most years, yet they stand at opposite poles of importance within their respective religious traditions...
...deny those of another. If Houses are neutral to religion in deciding what types of religious symbols to put up, a Jewish student who feels excluded by a tree can put up a Hanukkiah—the type of candelabra used by Jews to celebrate the holiday of Hanukkah. Those from other religious traditions should be encouraged to put up symbols for their holidays...
However, some College policies unnecessarily limit students’ exercise of religion. The College should immediately reconsider its ban against lighting candles in student rooms. When the holiday of Hanukkah begins on the evening of Dec. 9, many Jewish students will have to choose between lighting the Hanukkiah and sticking to the College’s policy. There should be specific allowances for personal religious observances as long as proper safety measures are used when lighting candles...
While Harvard needs to be an institution that enables people to practice and even display their religions, it also needs to refrain from establishing religion. House Masters should try to learn from the Hanukkah candle lightings that will take place in each House this year. The menorahs will be in common rooms, they will be set up only for an hour or two each of the days that they are to be lit, and students will be coordinating the religious ritual of their own accord. No student will be forced to choose between eating and being in the same room...