Page 36 - Jewish News_December-2020

36A December 2020 COMMENTARY

Memories of 88 Chanukahs Facebook bans Holocaust denial

By Sigmund Tobias
I resistance. Despite all of that, Cha- also made their way to us. spired congregation. We gather for
was born in Germany in 1932. My
father was a peddler selling tex-
services on one weekend night of Cha-
In 1948, I arrived in the United
nukah was joyous for me. A Chinese
tiles in villages surrounding Ber-
members light their menorahs followed
made impressions of our feet. On the
lin. He returned home for Chanukah man came to our Talmud Torah and States followed a year later by my nukah. We have a prayer service and
parents. The American Jewish Joint
with gifts of toys for me bought in the first day of Chanukah the man returned Distribution Committee supported by a catered dairy/vegetarian dinner.
places through which he had traveled. with a pair of brand new leather shoes my immigration and housed me in the Lora and I, our two daughters,
He hoisted me onto his shoulders and for every kid in the Talmud Torah paid Hebrew National Orphan Home in their husbands and two grandchildren
we had mock parades in for by Mr. Tukachinsky, a Yonkers, New York, until my parents took a cruise from Tampa to Cozumel
our apartment, our joy in- Russian Jew who escaped arrived. Even though no longer reli- during Chanukah two years ago. We
creased by the glow of the from the Bolshevik Revo- gious, I was shocked by the disinter- brought an electric menorah and the
menorah’s candles. These lution and became wealthy est of the other boys in the home for family gathered in our stateroom to
times were followed by in Shanghai. They were the Chanukah. When my parents arrived, light an additional candle every night
grim years of increasing only new leather shoes I we celebrated Chanukah together as a of the cruise. Now in 2020, our fam-
persecution of Jews when had during the war. family again. ily is scattered in Denver, Baltimore,
Chanukah had to be prac- Later in Shanghai, I I married and had two daughters. Chicago and Paris. Nevertheless, we
ticed discreetly, if at all. studied in the Mir Yeshi- My wife Lora and I lit Chanukah can- hope to celebrate the first night of
That ended when, just va, named for the Polish dles and chanted
before Chanukah, my fa- city where it was founded. the blessings and
ther was imprisoned in the Sigmund Tobias Students from that yeshi- songs even though
Dachau concentration camp and the va, and from some others, fled from I lost faith in a di-
holiday became a time when we were the German invasion of Poland and vinity and all con-
engulfed by terror. Fortunately, my fa- eventually also ended up in Shanghai. tact with religion
ther was released on the condition that In the yeshiva, three prayer services after the Shoah.
he leave Germany, which led to our were held every day, and during Cha- Our girls felt de-
flight to Shanghai in order to survive nukah we ate cake and drank some prived because our
the Shoah. sweet wine after the evening service. candles paled in
After celebrating our first Chanu- It warmed our hearts even though we comparison to the
kah in Shanghai, we were astounded worried about what had happened to huge displays of
at how Chinese people, who also use our relatives who remained in Europe. Christmas lights Kol HaNeshama congregants’ menorahs on Chanukah last year
the lunar calendar, celebrate their new At the end of the war in 1945 we by the families of their non-Jewish Chanukah together on our computer
year. Firecrackers were set off every- learned about the Shoah. Horror rattled friends, and their anticipation of Christ- screens via Zoom. We will see each
where and incredibly colorful dragons through the Shanghai ghetto. Fourteen mas gifts. To compensate for that, Lora other as we light the candles to bask in
wound their way through the major of my aunts, uncles and cousins were and I gave our girls a small gift every their warmth and hope that we can be
streets of the city. A bunch of Chinese killed in concentration camps. These night of Chanukah and continued to do together again in person next Chanu-
people carried a multi-colored fabric were not merely names to me because so through their years in high school. It kah. Chag Sameach!
on their heads, and the first person in I had lived, laughed and cried with became a joyous household. Sigmund Tobias is a university profes-
the group toted what was supposed to every one of them, and never would Eventually, I reconnected with Ju- sor who has retired in Sarasota and is
be a dragon replete with fangs while again. Virtually everyone in the ghet- daism, and in Sarasota we joined Kol an occasional contributor to this pub-
firecrackers were exploding around to who had survived, suffered losses. HaNeshama, a Reconstructionist-in- lication.
this procession. Many lost fewer of those close to them,
That excitement gave way to some lost more. It was a grim Chanu-
somber times. The Japanese occupi- kah. Our spirits improved when sur- anukka H
ers of Shanghai confined the Jewish plus U.S. Army rations were issued to H
refugees, who had fled there for safe- refugees and we no longer had to fear
ty from the Shoah, to a ghetto during malnutrition. Lists of survivors arrived COOKING DEMONSTRATION
World War II. Then we did our best to in editions of the Aufbau, an American with James Beard Foundation
fend off malnutrition and diseases such Jewish weekly published in German, Award-winning Chef
as cholera, typhoid and tuberculosis but even that had a somber side be- MICHAEL
to which the European Jews had little cause lists of those killed in the camps
SOLOMONOV
Want to WEDNESDAY • DECEMBER 2, 2020 • 8PM EST

JOIN US for another dazzling cooking event with James Beard Foundation
Receive Award-winning Chef Michael Solomonov. This time, Chef Solomonov will be
sharing some special recipes for making Chanukah tastier than ever!

Texts Learn to make Apple Shrub, Abe Fisher’s Potato Latkes,
Roman Artichokes with Arugula and Olive Oil
Poached Salmon and Sfenj (Moroccan Doughnuts)
with Honey and Pistachios
about Jewish

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and more? Event link and password, recipes, and ingredient list
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Text: JFED THIS PROGRAM IS A HANUKKAH GIFT TO YOU
FROM YOUR FEDERATION OF SARASOTA-MANATEE.

To: 332-22 For more information, contact Trudi Krames at
tkrames@jfedsrq.org