Wishing Everybody A Glorious Shabbos Chanukah

I know I'm sure getting what I want this year....

Actually TWO things.

1) Erica, Moshe and Kayla came in yesterday already to spend Shabbos with us and we will be joined Motzoei Shabbos by Michael, Chana and Eliezer. Ahhhh, everyone gathered around hearth and home.....

2) In my continuing quest for more and more bloggers at my Shabbos table, we will be joined by Ilana, whose blog positively cracks me up!!! I can't wait to meet her in person.

Now, in an effort to "give back", I'm going to offer you all a pre-Chanukah treat. This is one of my favorite Chanukah parodies, performed by Cantor Eric S. Freeman, who took the time out of his busy schedule to record it for me because I couldn't find it anywhere on the web. (I also suspect he had a little help from the talented and kind folks over at Granger Musikwerks, so thanks guys!)

Each Hanukah We Glorify

Words: Ben Aronin

Music: Folk melody “Oh Chanukah, Oh Chanukah”

1.Each Chanukah we glorify Brave Judah Maccabeus

Who had the courage to defy Antiochus, and free us.

Yet it is not fair that we should forget

Mrs. Maccabeus, to whom we owe a debt.

She mixed it

She fixed it

She poured it into a bowl

(You many NOT guess

But it was the LATkes

That gave brave Judah a soul)

Repeat last three lines

2.The Syrians said: “It cannot be that old Mattthias

Whose years are more than 83 will dare to defy us.!”

But they didn’t know his secret you see

Mattathias dined on latkes and tea.

One latke

Two latkes

And so on into the night

( You may NOT guess

But it was the Latkes

That gave him courage to fight)

Repeat last three lines

3.Now this is how it came about—this gastronomic wonder

That broke the ranks of Syria like flaming bolts of thunder

Mrs. Maccabeus wrote in the dough

Portions of the Torah and fried them just so.

They shimmered

They glimmered

Absorbing the olive oil

( You may NOT guess

But it was the Latkes

That made the Syrians recoil.)

Repeat the last three lines

4. Now these little latkes brown and delicious

Must have hit the spot ‘cause with appetites vicious

All the heroes downed them after their toil

Causing in our temple a shortage of oil.

One latke

Two latkes

And so on into the night

( You may NOT guess

But it was the Latkes

That gave us the Chanukah light)

Repeat the last three lines