Hanukah Celebration - Jerusalem IEA Groups, 8th December 2007:

On Saturday evening, December 8th, Leah Lublin, the Jewish coordinator of IEA Reut-Sadaqa invited the members of all of IEA's Jerusalem groups to meet at her home to celebrate the current Jewish holiday of Hanukah and the upcoming Eid Al Adha.

Twelve people showed up and quite a number of them were from Leah's local neighborhood of Maaleh Adumim and had never before met with Moslems. The same held true with one of our Moslem guests, originally from Jenin and studying in Abu Dis. He disclosed that he had never been invited to a Jewish home before so this was the first time for him too.

Before lighting the Hanukah candles (it was the 5th night of Hanukah), Leah explained to the guests the history of Hanukah and why Jews light the menorah. One of the Ma'aleh Adumim locals serenaded us on his guitar with Hanukah songs after candle lighting. Afterwards we all ate traditional Hanukah fare - Leah's homemade sweet potato and potato latkes (pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly donuts).

One of our Moslem guests was invited to speak about the upcoming Eid Al Adha, and then Leah served a traditional Arab dish of Makhlouba (chicken with rice and assorted vegetables). For the rest of the evening the guests sat around the living room socializing with one another. Since very few of the guests had met each other before this was a real enjoyable "first" for many and we hope to be able to continue such fruitful gatherings such as these.



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