So Kiff and I have been lighting Chanukkah candles most nights. I have a menorah that Lisa got in Israel a few years ago. Classic. Silver-plated. We were doing some boxing-day shopping when we were accosted by a couple of Hassidic teenagers giving away candles. cute. "Are you Jewish?" Hell, yeah. "Do you have a menorah?" Yep. "Candles?" Nope. They give me a box of those lifesaver-colored candles. And with that I had all the ingredients for Chanukkah. That night we prepared the menora, turned out the lights, lit the shamash, lit the others, and I said a few prayers. Afterwards, we stared at the candles. "I'm not sure why I wanted to do that, but it was nice." yes, it was. "It's not like I am getting religious or something" I know. "It feels good to do this because we can, you know? No stern religious figure is saying we 'must' do this. And no political regime is telling us we can't do it. I guess it reminds me that we are lucky to live in a time and a place where we have the luxury of lighting candles for Chanukkah because we want to".
