Welcome to the Holiday Homeschool Open House sponsered by Tiany Oh I am so excited that you have stopped by to see how we celebrate Chanukah. We have been so busy geting ready and unlike Christmas this year Chanukah begins On Tuesday Night Dec.4..YES Tomorrow! And there is so much to do, especallu since it is beginning with a congregational Chanukah party!

Today we are making Latkes! Lots and Lots and Lots of Latkes!

It begins like this!

Here is our favorite recipe which we triple for the family and make atleast ten times this for the congregation.

6 potatoes (I like yukon gold)

1  yellow onion

2 eggs beaten

3 TBSP of flour or Mtzo meal (I use both)

Salt and pepper

and schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) or oil (we used oil) for frying

Peel and grate potatoes and place them in a large bowl of ice water to keep them from greying (if you have the time with kidlings underfoot!) because now you have to squeeze them dry! add onion (which I also grate but feel free to chop if you like) also add the beaten eggs the flour salt and pepper. mix well! heat the oil and drop lage tablespoon fulls of the mixture into the skillet and flatten. Brown on both sides drain on paper towels and serve with....applesauce, sour cream and even caviar if you dare. Me, I like Sour cream and Crystal Hot Sauce!!!

And it ends like this

Now the big question is why do we eat Latkes??? Well it has to do with the Miracle. What Miracle? well the Miracle of the oil of course! The same Miracle that the letters on the Dreidel stand for Nes Gadol Hayah Shom..A great Miracle Happened there. You can read all about the Dreidel here. There is so much to learn about Chanukah it will be is several posts.

But back to the Miracle.... it is well explained here  The Greeks said no Jew could be a Jew, they needed to be a Greek. Sounds so familiar even today doesn't it. Everyone forcing everyone else to conform? Anyway after a while the Jews said no more and fought back. A little rag tag group of everyday people against the whole Greek Army (only God can bring victory) and he does. But when they return to their temple the altar is covered with PIGS blood and stautues os Antiocuos fill the Holy of Holies! So they begin to scrub and clean so they can rededicate the temple and themselves to the Lord This is the same feast of Dedication Jesus celebrated. Here is were the tricky part comes, you see there is only one flask of oil to fill the menorah with and it will only burn one day. Once it is lit it must remain lit it doesn't go out and the priests refill it once a week. The problem is there is NO MORE purified oil and whether it took eight days to purify it, or eight days to get some from somewhere else is debated (Jews love to debate thing) what is not debated it the Miracle! What only would have lasted one day lasted eight days!

So now you know why OIL is so important to Chanukah.

Tomorrow I will share with you the Lighting of the Chanikiah which is a menorah with nine branches. Why Tomorrow??? Because Tomorrow Chanukah begins and I have Oh so much to do today!. Potatoes to peel, Chanukiahs to shine, dreidels to find.....Busy , Busy , Busy!!!!!