Happy Holidays from Touro!

We are so grateful for all of those who have engaged with our blog this year and we can’t wait to bring you more content in the new year!

[Post by Emma Larson-Whittaker, Library and Outreach Assistant, Starrett City]

“When I grow up”: What our librarians wanted to be as children

What did you want to be when you grew up? Some of our librarians shared their childhood hopes with us!

Annett Carr:
When I was a little girl I wanted to be a police officer like my father. The idea of chasing bad guys down seemed fun.

Sarah Keene:

As a child in London, UK, I loved the bus rides (especially from the top of a double-decker) we took to get around, as we didn’t have a car. I wanted to be a bus driver when I grew up, so I could see all of London.

Emma Larson-Whittaker:

I wanted to be a dental hygienist when I grew up. I thought going to the dentist was fun and I thought scraping plaque off of teeth would make for a satisfying job.

Christine Leddy:

First I remember wanting to be a veterinarian because I loved animals.

However, I also used to say I wanted to be a teacher because I loved writing with chalk on chalkboards (thank goodness I gave up on that idea, considering chalkboards became obsolete in the classroom!)

I should also mention that I ALSO always wanted to be a librarian! I used to gather up all the books in the house, organize them on top of my bed, and check them out to each of my stuffed animals using a stamper and a large, chunky calculator.

Philip Papas:

I knew I wanted to become a baseball player when I grew up. And not just any player, but a catcher. Perhaps it was that they were involved with every ball in play, or that they had control over the game by signaling the pitcher what to throw. In addition to the regular uniform, they got to wear a mask (they were hence the only players who got to wear their caps backward), and other cool protective gear.  

Nino Rtskhiladze:

When I was a very little kid, I wished to become a Director of a Chocolate Factory.

Later, as a teenager, I wanted to become an actress.

Sara Tabaei:

I was part of the theater group in school and always had a dream of becoming an actress.

Kelly Tenny:

I wanted to be Belle on Broadway! I was obsessed with Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (the animated version from the early 90s) as a child because I saw so much of myself in Belle. She had brown hair and brown eyes, she was an avid reader, and she was kind to animals. I had a passion for singing & dancing too and wanted to glow on stage as one of my favorite fictional characters singing beloved songs I already knew well by heart. 

[Post edited by Emma Larson-Whittaker, library and outreach assistant, Starrett City]

Put on your yarmulke, it’s time to celebrate Chanukah!

This post was originally published on the Touro College Library blog in 2015

Many menorahs (photo by Ricki Carroll)

When I was a college student living in the dormitory, one of my favorite times of the year was Chanukah. Starting from the evening of the twenty-fifth day of the Hebrew month of Kislev, over one-hundred girls who called the dorm home came down to the front lounge, where long, foil-covered tables were set up in full view of the street, to light Chanukah lecht (candles or lights).

For eight nights the front lounge was softly lit with the light from hundreds of Chanukah lights. It did not matter if that light came from a sturdy iron menorah you brought with you from home that used olive oil and wicks or a cheap aluminum menorah you purchased in the dorm’s convenience store with a box of multicolored candles. Saying the blessings and watching the lights burn together, remembering the miracles that occurred in Jewish history during that time, that was what counted. Everyone was friendlier and more cheerful by candlelight, even if finals were around the corner and assignments were due the next day. Girls brought their dreidels downstairs to play around the low tables and ate sufganiyot, traditional jelly doughnuts fried in oil, provided by the school.

Sufganiot from Old Jerusalem, Jewish Quarter Road, Neeman Bakery (CC image by Geagea)

We sang Chanukah songs and discussed the story of how a small group of Jews called the Maccabees (incidentally, our school sports teams and acapella group were named for these famous warriors) rose up from the oppression of the Syrian-Greeks during the time of the second Temple. Antiochus, their king, had issued restrictive edicts punishable by death preventing Jews from practicing their religion, including outlawing the Jewish Sabbath and most importantly, installing and worshiping idols in the Holy Temple. Judah Maccabee and his followers fought back, winning the battle against the massive Syrian-Greek army with their small band of soldiers.

The seven Maccabee brothers are condemned to death by Antiochus IV, by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

After the fight, when Judah went to re-dedicate the Temple after its desecration and light the great Temple menorah, he could not find any of the special oil used. All bottles appeared to have been smashed during the desecration. After a thorough search, a tiny bottle of oil that would only be enough for one day was found still sealed. That oil burned for exactly eight days and nights, the amount of time required to produce a new batch of oil. To remember this miracle, Jews eat foods fried in olive oil, such as the aforementioned sufganiyot and potato pancakes called latkes. The dreidel has the Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hay, and shin on each of its sides, which stands for ”neis gadol hayah sham,” or “a great miracle happened there”. Though I am not in the dorm this year, I will make time to pass by, look through the front windows at the long table of lights, and remember.

This year, Chanukah begins at sundown on Thursday, December 7^th and ends at sundown Friday, December 15^th.

This post was contributed by Toby Krausz, Judaica Librarian, Midtown