There are about as many ways to celebrate Chanukah as there are to spell it.
In Columbia, the River Hill Chanukah House shines bright for the entire month of December.
The annual tradition began 10 years ago with one colorful inflatable on Matthew Levine’s lawn: a polar bear holding a dreidel and wearing a blue sweater and yarmulke. Levine told Fox 5 News that his toddler daughter had been asking why they didn’t have lights on their house like other houses in the neighborhood, and Levine explained that as a Jewish family, they celebrated Chanukah.
This Jewish author can relate, but at least she grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and while still outnumbered, plenty of other kids did not have Christmas lights. She does remember pleading with her parents for Christmas lights, but to no avail.
Levine’s children live in different times, and with better merchandise availability. Thus began the tradition that has grown into a display that has crossed over into his neighbor’s lawn and draws crowds from all over the DMV area.
There are multiple inflatables, nets of lights that sparkle blue and white, Chanukah menorahs that are taller than most adults, Stars of David, and more. Admission is free for this family-friendly event. The display began on Dec. 1 and runs until Dec. 31, and hours are 5–9:30 p.m. nightly. During the eight nights of Chanukah, (Monday, Dec. 15–Monday, Dec. 22) visitors can enjoy special giveaways, treats, and surprises to help celebrate the holiday.
While supplies last, visitors can also pick up a Chanukah box, which includes a menorah, candles, and a dreidel, and Chanukah handbooks, which includes the history of the holiday, instructions on how to light the menorah, and recipes. Chabad of Clarksville sponsored the boxes and handbooks.
In honor of River Hill Chanukah’s 10th anniversary, a fundraising goal of $10,000 has been established to support the Torah Repair Project at Howard County’s Chabad Lubavitch Center for Jewish Life. The Torah is the sacred scroll on which the first five books of the Hebrew Bible are handwritten by a pious scribe in the original Hebrew. The scribe uses special ink, parchment, and other materials for this work, which is a religious act. A new scroll can cost anywhere from $20,000 to more than $100,000. Scrolls are kept in an Ark, a special cabinet in a synagogue on the eastern wall, which faces Jerusalem.
Chanukah is, relatively speaking in Judaism, a minor holiday. (Shabbat is the holiest – it has a commandment, after all!) Chanukah is not mentioned in the Bible, rather it is based on historical events recorded in Maccabees I and II, which are contained in the Apocrypha. It commemorates the victory of a Jewish resistance movement over the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes in the year 168 B.C.E. Antiochus’ soldiers had desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem with altars and idols and abolished Judaism, outlawing its practice.
Vastly outnumbered, Judah Maccabee and his fighters won two major battles over the Syrians, routing them. The word “Chanukah” means “dedication” and the holiday celebrates the rededication of the Temple after Syrian and Greek occupation. When the Maccabees reentered the Temple, they lit the ner tamid, or eternal light, which burns over the ark in every synagogue. There was only enough oil for one day (a single jar), but securing more oil took eight days. The legend of Chanukah is that the single jar of oil miraculously continued to burn until the messenger sent to get more oil returned, eight days later. (Interestingly, mention of this miracle does not appear until centuries later, in the Talmud.)
Lighting the hanukkiyah (a menorah with nine candleholders) was common in the 19th century, but throughout the 20th century, North American Jews began adding gift-giving to their Chanukah celebrations. It is not, as some mistakenly believe, “Jewish Christmas” just because gifts are exchanged and they happen at roughly the same time of year. Quite the contrary, Chanukah celebrates the strength and dignity of the Jewish people in their refusal to be forced to convert and assimilate to the religion practiced by the majority of people around them.
Other Chanukah traditions involve eating foods fried in oil, like latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly-filled doughnuts); playing dreidel (a wooden spinning top); watching Adam Sandler sing “The Hanukkah Song”; arguing over the correct spelling of “Chanukah”; remembering that Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons is Jewish; wondering why the only decent Chanukah movie is “Full Court Miracle”; rolling our eyes at the latest conspiracy theories about us, and arguing over who gets to play with the Space Lasers.
Whether one would like to marvel at two expansive lawns filled with lights celebrating the Jewish holiday of Chanukah, donate to the restoration of a sacred scroll, learn about the history and resilience of the tiny group of people that have survived for four millennia, or simply revel in a dad’s loving project gone just a little mad, the River Hill Chanukah House will dazzle and warm well beyond the Festival of Lights.
The house is located at 6424 Empty Song Road, Columbia, MD.
