Hanukkah

The festival of lights celebrated over eight days and nights to commemorate the memory of the re-dedication of the Old second temple at Jerusalem after Maccabees miraculously won the war over a larger army of the Greek-Syrians who were oppressing the lives and beliefs of the community. 

Hanukkah traditionally falls on the 25th day of the month of Kislev in the Hebrew Calendar which is December 22nd to 30th, this year coinciding with the Christmas. According to the Hebrew Calendar the Hanukkah can fall between any day from the last week of November to December in the Gregorian Calendar. 

A candle is lit each night adding up to eight candle on the final night. In Kerala, our Nehemia Mootha, died on the first candle of the Hannukah and is buried in the Chakka Maadam cemetery of the Kadavumbhagam Synagogue. Interestingly the saint's tomb is the only one that survived the local encroachment after the "Alia". This year, surprisingly after the service at the Synagogue the gathering walked all the way to the saints tomb and the elder made a talk about him. We found it very interesting as there was no such precedence. 

"Happy Hanukkah"

The season is on and the 'Meniyan' was not a problem at the Mattancherry synagogue for the Sabbath.

Season or not there is always a candle burning at Nehemiah Mootah's old tomb. In the December evening sunlight the neighbourhood was looking very charming. On the other side of the street, Ellickal temple was celebrating their festival with caprisoned elephant, which is always a top tourist attraction. But not many were aware of the glorious Kerala spectacle which was happening so close to the tourism circuit.
Pictures from Saturday.

The invitation to guest lecture at the tourism colleges is something KJT enjoys very much and consider it as a duty to share the tourism working experience with the Tourism Students. After the closing of the semester in November in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh,  KJT is now available at Kochi for consultation and tours. All our Jewish Friends and Heritage enthusiasts are welcome.

While KJT is thankful for the enquiries that have come our way in the past few months, we apologize for the inconvenience and not being available. KJT extends a special note of gratitude to Sir Adrian Whittle for taking our freshly designed 'Weaving Trail' (Chennai-Tirupati-Venkatgiri-Srikalahasti-Nellore) which was still in experimental stage in August. Thank you Sir for your patience and unbound cooperation.  

Meydad Eliyahu & Tom Landau, we missed taking you around our Jewish towns while you were here in Kochi.