10 North Shore Towers Courier n January 2016 WE ARE LIGHTS Annual Haddassah Chanukah event celebrates and honors Story & Photos Stephen Vratos A lively group of about 120 members gathered the evening of Monday, December 8, in Towers on the Green to celebrate the start of the Festival of Lights at the annual Chanukah party hosted by the Migdal Chapter of Haddassah. Residents began congregating outside the catering hall’s doors, an hour prior, to enjoy music and singing, and a hearty nosh of traditional holiday fare. But most important, to share their “profound love of the Jewish faith and Israel,” as Gloria Beck so poignantly put it in her opening remarks, after greeting her fellow Haddassah brethren, following the symbolic lighting of the first candle of the Festival by Eaneas Arkway. She noted the more than 300,000 thousands Chapter members—300 of which resided in North Shore Towers—and praised the continuing fundraising efforts of the club, the money from which goes toward such important causes as Alzheimer’s and cancer research, among many others. A lovely buffet was provided by Buffy, Angelo and the Towers on the Green crew. Trays of latkes and jellyfilled sufganiyot, plates of fresh fruit and homemade pastries, among other traditional treats were heartily enjoyed by all. According to Angelo, his chef and kitchen staff worked for more than a month to perfect the latkes, which were critiqued by members of Haddassah and tweaked, until finally meeting with everyone’s approval. If the half dozen chafing dishes that the celebrants went through at the party were any indication, Angelo and his staff were successful. Before the buffet, Mezzo-Soprano, Cantor Carol Chesler provided the entertainment, performing a selection of Jewish and Yiddish songs, songs of peace and Horas, with her guitar, including such popular numbers as “Hava Nagila,” “Bei Mir Bist du Schein” and “Light One Candle,” written by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary fame. Occasionally commentary by Chesler about Chanukah, its meaning and context against the background of today’s political climes across the globe provided fascinating insight and richness to her performance. She reminded the audience that Chanukah is not only about recognizing and celebrating the miracle of the Maccabees’ oil lamps burning for eight days, though containing barely enough fuel for one, but also about one of, if not the, earliest fights for religious freedom, a radical notion in 165 BCE, during the struggles of the Maccabees with the Greeks, and one all the more prevalent today. Cantor Carol Chesler, Eva Kessner and Gloria Beck Eva Kessner, Eaneas Arkway and Gloria Beck Carol Chesler performs Eaneas Arkway does the honors Gloria Beck and Alyce Zaller
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