Hanukkah: West Bank Style
Ultra-orthodox have a slightly different conception of the Festival of Lights
In a 2004 New Yorker article, Jeffrey Goldberg spoke to radical religious settlers in the West Bank cities of Hebron and Kiryat Arba. When asked how they would react to the government attempting to evacuate them into Israel proper some hinted darkly at the possibility of “another Hanukkah” in the works.
Wait!
What’s wrong with that?
So the IDF shows up, settlers invite them in. They light the menorah, then open gaily-wrapped presents while the warm odor of frying latkas fills the air. After dinner, and everyone has filled up on jelly-filled sufganiyot, the little children spin their dreidels, and everyone sings:
Oh Hanukkah, Oh, Hanukkah
Come light the menorah
Let’s have a party
We’ll all dance the hora
Gather ‘round the table
We’ll give you a treat,
Sivivon to play with and latkes to eat
Nothing even slightly ominous about that.
Right?
