You’d be hard pressed to find a Hanukkah entertainer with as unlikely a background as Jane McNally.
McNally, 72, will be the one-woman show at the Jack Satter House, the Hebrew SeniorLife independent living residence in Revere where she moved into an ocean-view apartment early this year.
She’ll be performing on piano, accordion and Celtic Harp (at 51 inches, “it’s almost as tall as I am”) at the Dec. 18 Hanukkah party.
Music, though, is her avocation. McNally is a retired psychologist, and before that she was a nun. She converted to Judaism 16 years ago, completing a religious transformation sparked decades before by a Hebrew Scriptures professor who taught at her convent.
Hanukkah may be a relatively minor holiday when it comes to religious importance, but the Festival of Lights stands out for the way it ignites creativity, generosity, and playfulness among Jews and non-Jews alike.
In Waltham, engineering students at Gann Academy are making a menorah with 3-D printers. In Dedham, Rashi students are celebrating the holiday with their elder neighbors at NewBridge on the Charles. And celebrants from all over are placing lighted menorahs on their cars to join a Hanukkah motorcade that will wind its way through Brighton, Brookline, and downtown Boston.
McNally has purchased “an ugly Hanukkah sweater” especially for the Satter House party. She will play well-known holiday tunes to encourage sing-alongs, as well as songs rooted in the Ladino/Judeo-Spanish heritage. “Music has always been integral to my life,” she said. “If there’s not music, I don’t want to be there.”
Eighty-one-year-old Richard Snyder’s passion is running. He just ran the Feaster Five Thanksgiving race in Andover, the only finisher in the over-80 category for 5-milers. The Tewksbury resident will also be competing in the seventh-annual Run-a-Latke Fun Run on Dec. 17, which starts and ends at Chabad Hall in Swampscott.
Snyder — who has run in races in locations as far flung as Alaska and Israel — has been the first person to register for the Swampscott run since its inception in 2011, according to founder and organizer Allie Vered. In past years, three generations of Snyders have been represented.
Open to people of all faiths, the race follows the shoreline and winds up with a menorah lighting and Hanukkah party. “We want to show the community that we are part of it,” said Vered, who lives in Swampscott. “Hanukkah creates the most opportunity for that cross-religious dialogue.”
The youngest participants come in strollers. Some dress in outfits adorned with jingle bells, joker hats, and tutus. Last year, the event drew 160 people.
Jewish day schools integrate Hanukkah throughout their courses, from art and music to math and technology.
Families of prekindergartners at Solomon Schechter Day School in Newton will light their candles on clay hanukkiyot that their 4-year-olds molded in class. Also known as the Hanukkah menorah, the lamp holds eight candles — one for each night of the holiday — and the shamash, or “helper candle,” used to light the rest.
Using seashells, stamps with Hebrew letters, or Stars of David, the young artists pressed images onto their hanukkiyot, which were then fired in a kiln. “They’re so proud of the work that they do,” said teacher Rachel Korneich of Wellesley.
Why does the Hanukkah menorah have eight candles? Over at the Rashi School in Dedham, fifth-graders are learning the Hanukkah story by designing and making sculptures of Maccabee soldiers. This second-century BCE band of brothers rebelled against Greek-Syrian attempts to extinguish Judaism. They reclaimed the Second Temple in Jerusalem and relit its menorah, miraculously making one night’s supply of oil last eight nights.
Other Rashi students will make Hanukkah gifts for and with their older neighbors at NewBridge on the Charles, the Hebrew SeniorLife continuing care community that shares the same campus. “The residents get to share the holiday with people surrounding them, which is especially nice for those who don’t have family nearby,” sixth grader Scott Black wrote in an e-mail. “I like it because I get to know their stories and learn what Hanukkah was like for them when they were younger.”
Hanukkah goes high-tech at Gann Academy, the Jewish high school in Waltham. “I’ve inherited a whole lot of kids who are gung-ho on making things happen,” including making “a 3-D printer do things it wasn’t meant to do,” said Seth Battis, chairman of the newly created Computing Design & Fabrication Department.
Junior Zach Sherman, 17, of Lexington, fiddled with the speed and braking of the tiny motors that operate the printheads to transform the normal cacophony of squeaks, squeals, and groans into the Hanukkah song “Rock of Ages.”
Sophomore Nathan Lesser of Newton assigned the printer a more practical task: producing a Hanukkah menorah. Because it was so large, he produced one palm-sized plastic candle-holder at a time, assembling them afterward. While taking three hours per holder, the project has advanced Lesser’s career plans. “I’m 15 and already know how to design 3-D parts and get things printed,” he said.
Other students are programming a laser cutter machine to light the lead Hanukkah candle — without burning it in half first.
First graders at Maimonides School in Brookline are using an engineering design process to learn how to build a better dreidel. Trying different combinations of snap cubes, they aim to design a dreidel that will spin for a minute.
At a family event, Maimonides students will show their parents how to write computer programs for creating Hanukkah animations and operating robots. The event is a collaboration with Tufts University’s DevTech Research Group.
Over at the Jewish Community Day School in Watertown, budding engineers, scientists, and artists are displaying their talents on Sunday, Dec. 10, at the inaugural Hanukkah-themed STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) Fair. Among the activities: creating candlelight animations on iPads and wiring circuits to illuminate holiday cards. The event is open to the public.
A traditional Hanukkah treat is sufganiyah, a jelly doughnut that has been deep-fried, in keeping with the holiday theme of the miracle of the long-lasting oil. Acton’s Congregation Beth Elohim’s Hanukkah party on Dec. 17 will feature a different type of doughnut, mandazi, courtesy of guests from the Waltham-based chapter of the Ugandan-American Muslim Association.
The friendship between the two organizations has its roots in a group home for developmentally challenged adults in Concord that is run by Isaac Mulumba, a leader of the association. Among the residents is a Beth Elohim congregant. “This community is literally keeping one of our people going,” said Rabbi Michael Rothbaum, adding that the bond with the Ugandan immigrants also offers the synagogue an opportunity to “take a stand against the forces of hate, oppression, and xenophobia.”
For the seventh year, Shaloh House in Brighton is putting Hanukkah on wheels. A motorcade of four Hummer stretch limos — each accommodating up to 20 students — followed by a string of personal cars will assemble at the Brighton school around 6:15 p.m. on Dec. 19, after a reception with Mayor Martin J. Walsh and an outdoor menorah lighting ceremony. Vehicles topped with menorahs will parade through Coolidge Corner and then head down Beacon Street to downtown Boston. The route will take them past the Common and the State House, with a solemn stop at the Holocaust Memorial.
Dan Rodkin, the rabbi at Shaloh House, said that Hanukkah is the one holiday Jews make a point of celebrating in public fashion. “We want everyone to see the miracle we had,” he said. “This sends a strong message to everyone about our Jewish pride.”
The holiday is particularly meaningful for Shaloh House, which serves as a center for the Russian Jewish community.
“I remember how it was scary and difficult” to celebrate Hanukkah in the Soviet Union,” said Rodkin, who is 45 and came to America when he was 18.
“The message of Hanukkah is universal,” he said. “Fight darkness with the light.”
Steve Maas can be reached at stevenmaas@comcast.net.
