Happy Hanukkah from The Jewish Experience
![Picture of family underneath Happy Hanukkah banner](../holidays-religious-traditions/2021/november/images/happyhanukkah960.jpg)
Shmutzy Girl, Noshy Boy, and the Joys of Yiddish for Kids!
Anne-Marie Asner, MA '96, writes fun-filled children's books that introduce kids to Yiddish words like kvetch and ungapatchka.
More Stories
![New York's Lower East Side in 1908.](images/yiddish-schools-735x490.jpg)
Professor Ellen Kellman recalls a time when Hanukkah festivities were about politics and Zionism.
![Family in Hanukkah pajamas](images/tje-hanukkah-pajamas-735x490.jpg)
Yael Buechler '07 and her business Midrash Manicures make the perfect gifts for the holiday season. Her hair scrunchies were a favorite of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
![Josh Gondelman](../holidays-religious-traditions/2021/november/images/gondelman735.jpg)
That itchy sweater you got for Hanukkah that's two sizes too small? That kitchen gadget you know you'll never use? Comedian Josh Gondelman '07 writes about what NOT to do when you get a lousy holiday gift.
![Potato pancakes](../holidays-religious-traditions/2021/november/images/latkes735.jpg)
A Brandeis University Press cookbook offers recipes for potato pancakes (reibekuchen), knee doughnuts (knieküchlein), and spiced chocolate hazelnut cookies (krokerle).
![The Rugrats](images/rugrats735.jpg)
Teri McGuire, MA'16, wrote her master's thesis on the impact 'The Rugrats' had on Jewish children. Unsurprisingly, the Hanukkah-themed episode holds a special place.
![Christmas tree decorations](images/hanukkahbush735.jpg)
University Professor Jonathan Sarna explains the rise, fall, and subsequent rise of Christmas trees in Jewish homes.
![Menorah in front of White House](images/hanukkahatwhitehouse735.jpg)
How did the president of the United States come to hold an official White House Hanukkah party in the first place? Professor Jonathan Sarna explains.
![Menorah in front of the White House](images/hanukkahinamerica735.jpg)
Historian Jonathan Sarna discusses the growing prominence of Hanukkah on the Jewish American calendar.