Bay Area
Alameda City Hall menorah found in pieces on first day of Hanukkah
On the first day of Hanukkah, the public menorah in front of Alameda City Hall was found torn down and smashed. Next to it, the city’s Christmas tree had…
Bay Area
The pandemic can’t stop SF's Union Square menorah lighting
It wouldn’t have been a first-night Hanukkah celebration in this year of tumult without at least something unexpected happening. Sure enough, as Rabbi…
World
A Siberian synagogue has a 10-foot menorah made of ice
A synagogue in Tomsk, a Siberian city in Russia, has unveiled a giant Hanukkah menorah made of ice. The 10-foot menorah was erected Tuesday inside the…
U.S.
Hanukkah greetings from Trump, Biden, Harris — and Emhoff
2020 has one thing going for it: This year’s Hanukkah messages from the United States’ top leaders were ample, and for the first time included a Jewish…
Torah
The Maccabees stood up to the wicked — we need to do the same
The Torah column is supported by a generous donation from Eve Gordon-Ramek in memory of Kenneth Gordon. Hanukkah recalls a time more than 2,000 years ago…
Politics
Cries of ‘four more years’ at Trump’s final White House Hanukkah party
To cries of “four more years,” President Donald Trump told guests at a White House Hanukkah party that he could stay in office “if certain people have…
Opinion
Does The New York Times have a Hanukkah problem?
Jewish Twitter was not amused by a New York Times op-ed by an author saying why she no longer celebrates Hanukkah. Sarah Prager, an historian of LGBTQ…
Music
Orthodox rapper Nissim Black reinvents ‘Hava Nagila’
The latest single by Nissim Black, a pathbreaking Orthodox hip-hop artist, reimagines what may be the mostly widely known Jewish song. “The Hava Song,”…
Small Bites
Get your gelt on with Bad Walter’s Hanukkah ice cream flavors
Food coverage is supported by a generous donation from Susan and Moses Libitzky. We just got word about a new tiny-batch ice cream operation in Oakland…