Many of the Southland’s traditional public celebrations of Hanukkah — chocolate gelt drops, shopping-center menorah lightings and the like — might have been canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there’s no shortage of online things to do to mark the holiday, which this year starts the evening of Dec. 10 and ends the evening of Dec. 18. Find a half-dozen handpicked highlights below.
Make cheese pancakes with Amelia Saltsman
Learn how to make Hanukkah treats in a live-streamed cooking class conducted by Amelia Saltsman, author of “The Seasonal Jewish Kitchen: A Fresh Take on Tradition,” who will demonstrate how to make sweet and savory cheese pancakes inspired by her Romanian and Iraqi roots. The two one-hour workshops, offered as part of the Skirball Cultural Center’s holiday programming, will take place at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Pacific on Dec. 13 and cost $15 per household (Skirball members save $5). For ages 5 and up (children must be accompanied by an adult). Find additional information and a link to registration — which closes Dec. 6 — at skirball.org.
L.A.-based klezmer gypsy-rock group Mostly Kosher will perform as part of the Skirball’s livestreamed Hanukkah celebration on Dec. 13.
(Rick Raasch)
Livestream the Skirball’s Hanukkah Festival
The Skirball’s annual holiday extravaganza, complete with candle-lighting, sing-alongs and the Hanukkah story told via a puppetry performance, premieres on YouTube this year starting at 3 p.m. Pacific on Dec. 13. Entertainment on tap includes L.A.-based klezmer gypsy-rock band Mostly Kosher and funk psychedelic jazz Israeli superstar Gili Yalo. For those who can’t watch in real time, a video of the festivities will be available on YouTube afterward. For those who can tune in early, there’s also a preshow Hannukkiah (Hanukkah menorah) show-and-tell starting at 2:30 p.m. that will feature members of the Skirball community and an exploration of the museum’s hanukkiot collection. Registration for both is free. An RSVP by noon Dec. 11 is recommended for the main event (bonus: They’ll send you an email reminder and a link) and is needed to receive a Zoom link to the show-and-tell. Additional information and RSVP links are available at skirball.org.
Shelley Fisher will livestream her one-woman show on Dec. 17 — the second-to-last night of Hanukkah — to benefit the Santa Monica Playhouse.
(Santa Monica Playhouse)
Hang out with the Hebrew Hillbilly
Shelley Fisher (a.k.a. the Hebrew Hillbilly) brings her autobiographical one-woman (make that one-diva) show about a Southern Jewish girl with rock ’n’ roll aspirations back to the virtual outpost of the Santa Monica Playhouse (where she live-streamed a performance back in September) to celebrate the penultimate night of Hanukkah and to raise funds for the Keep Our Doors Open Santa Monica Playhouse benefit campaign. The show is from 6 to 7:30 p.m Dec. 17 and is $30 per household. Tickets to the Hebrew Hillbilly Livestreaming a Joyous Hanukkah Benefit for Santa Monica Playhouse are available online at santamonicaplayhouse.com.
Catch a public menorah lighting
The Original Farmers Market at the corner of 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue will have a Hanukkah menorah on display in the plaza in front of the El Granjero Cantina barricades starting Dec. 5. It will be lighted nightly at sunset by Farmers Market staff starting Dec. 10. 6333 W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles.
Attend a (virtual) international live gala
Pro-Israel education organization StandWithUs traditionally holds its annual Festival of Lights gala, which raises funds to combat anti-Semitism, at the Beverly Hilton, drawing somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 attendees. And while this year’s event may be going virtual, the entertainment value is 100% real. On tap for the Dec. 13 gala are keynote speaker Elan Carr, comedian and actor Elon Gold and Kiss frontman Gene Simmons. In addition, Joshua Washington and the Hebrew Project will present the world premiere of the new song “Oh Jerusalem.” Free at StandWithUs.TV, but registration is required at standwithus.com/fol. Stand With Us Festival of Lights International Live Virtual Gala, 5 p.m. Pacific Dec. 13.
Check-in to eight nights of online activities
Shalom Institute, a Malibu-based retreat, education and community center, and its youth program, Camp JCA Shalom, have organized an octet of online activities that will give housebound kids something fun to do every evening of Hanukkah. Each livestreamed night will start with a candle lighting followed by a short activity such as crafting clay dreidels, cooking latkes (sweet one night, savory another), Hanukkah songs and a sing-along with Robb “Robbo” Zelonky. Additional information will be available starting Dec. 7 at the Facebook pages of Camp JCA Shalom and the Shalom Institute, where the programs will be accessible each night free of charge via Facebook Live. Shalom Institute and Camp JCA Shalom Hanukkah Week programming, 5 p.m. nightly from Dec. 10-17.
Source by www.latimes.com
