I saw the Maccabee Menorah advertised somewhere (the individual candles are the Maccabee brothers, though somehow they squeezed nine candles out of a family of five), and a Judah Maccabee Action Figure somewhere else. They seem more appropriate for Hanukkah than the ad where the guy was wearing an electric menorah-hat, which made him look like a very weird moose and also seemed to require him to stand near an electrical outlet. After all, Hanukkah is supposed to be about heroes, and the Maccabees are remembered as powerful guerilla warriors who smashed the might of a pagan army. They fought, they won, and we get to eat latkes...
With the presidential elections behind us at last, responses to our new president-elect range from jubilation to despair to everything in between; some are bursting with enthusiasm while others are ridden with anxiety. Everyone has hopes or fears (or both) about changes the new administration will make—changes that will affect our lives and the life of our nation.
