Showing posts with label Hanukka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hanukka. Show all posts

Wishing You A Dolly Chanukah

Posted by bayan

 A great Rabbi once remarked that “You cannot chase away darkness with a stick, you have to turn on the light.”  The way to eliminate darkness — to rid the world of ignorance, negativity, hatred and greed — is to kindle the lights of knowledge, generosity, hope and love.
I'm quite irreverent when it comes to religion but the origin and meaning of this holiday is beautiful.

I did a photoshoot last night using some doll sized menorahs and a full sized menorah. I hope you enjoy the photographs. If you want to read a little about Chanukah, see the links at the bottom of the post.




I did a Google search for Doll Menorahs which produced mostly menorahs having nothing to do with dolls. Off the top of my head, the only company that makes a menorah specifically for one of their dolls is the American Girl. The menorah at the back of the table in the above photo is an American Girl product. It came with the items in the picture below.
American Girl  - Discontinued Set
There is another, newer menorah set for sale. It is still available at the American Girl website for $22.  Here is a picture of the product.
American Girl - Rebecca's Hanukka Set
American Girl accessories are overscaled for your Fashion Royalty dolls and Silkstones. I like them anyway and who's to say that they don't have giant menorahs?
Have fun!

 The significance of Chanukah (also spelled Hanukkah) in our modern world is profound and beautiful and it is probably the best known Jewish holiday due to it's yearly proximity to Christmas. The Sanhedrin, a council or court of elders who met to answer questions of lawand all aspects of religious and political life in biblical times. It was established in 191 B.C.E. and continued although persecuted for almost 600 years.  In 358 C.E. Roman Emperor Theodosius disbanded the Sanhedrin and confiscated their property as a reaction to previous emperor Julian's pro-Jewish stance.

Hanukah, The Holiday of Lights  
Matisyahu: Light A Fire For Chanukah Music
Hanukkah


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Holiday Accessories for Dolls Celebrating Chanukah

Posted by bayan

American Girl is just about the only company I have discovered to date that acknowledges the existence of holidays other than Christmas. I applaud them for being inclusive when it comes to different ethnicities and beliefs in the creation of their dolls and background stories. Their dolls are widely available and are not charicatures of children of various ethnic backgrounds, they are just children who happen to be different from eachother.
Although most adult fashion doll collectors do not include American Girl dolls in their collections, some of the accessories can be worked in. In my photo of Kaori, two posts back, I used an American Girl menorah and dreidel. This year AG has another menorah available and it's beautiful. It comes in a set called Rebecca's Hanukkah Set, [Item#F9723] and retails for $22.

Here are the photos from their website:


The description: "Rebecca can't wait to light the menorah and celebrate Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights! This set features: A beautiful menorah and nine pretend candles A dreidel Rebecca and her cousins spin to play games Three shiny coins, called gelt."

The price is right and can bring your gals into the multi-cultural world!

American Girl has also provided Rebecca with a Sabbath Set.
This beautiful set comes with:
"A Russian samovar and tray for heating water and serving tea
A tea canister and a ceramic teapot
Two glasses, pretend hallah bread and a scalloped cloth
A pair of [pretend] Sabbath candles that the women in Rebecca's family "light" before sundown
Two blue candlesticks that were a gift to Rebecca from Mr. Rossi"

The Sabbath set is back-ordered until March 2010. The retail price is $68.

Tea? My grandpa drank a shot of schnapps on Shabbos. I guess we can't give little girls bottles of Schnapps and shot glasses, can we?
In addition, hallah is spelled challah and hanukkah is spelled Chanukah. I'm just sayin'

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Happy Chanukah to Everyone

Posted by bayan



May your days shine brightly and may your hearts be filled with warmth.
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