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‘Frontier Hanukkah’

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Astoria, Oregon, 1887

“Moishe!” my mama yelled from the kitchen of our cabin on the bank of the Columbia River.

“What now, Mama?”

“Come peel potatoes for the latkes!” [potato pancakes]

“I’m making a dreidel.” [A dreidel is a toy similar to a spinning top.]

“Then take the menorah and candles out!” [A menorah is a nine-branched candle holder used to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.]

Just as I put my dreidel down, my poppy marched in like the Angel Michael and saved the day! A Chinook chief dressed in fine beaver pelts and a woven bark hat followed him. [The Chinooks were a Native American Tribe who lived along the Columbia River.]

Boichik” -- Poppy was big and burly with a thick black beard and a voice deep like a bear’s -- “I want you should meet Spidis, the headman of the Chinook.” Poppy liked to call me “boichik” for the same reason I called him “Poppy.” It is like a Yiddish nickname for a loved one. Boichik for boy; Poppy for father.

Spidis’ skin was the color of red clay. He had kind eyes, huge lips, and a wide flat nose with a shaft of whale bone pierced through the bottom of it. His coal-black hair was long and braided. Tattoos of coyotes circled his neck. His walking stick was carved like a totem pole with a red and yellow thunderbird on top. He smelt like dried salmon.

“Hi, Chief Spidis,” I said.

“Ummmm!” Spidis grunted eyeing my spinning dreidel.

“Moishe, the menorah! Your poppy will be -- “

“Beautiful, come in here! I want you to meet a fine business acquaintance of mine,” my daddy sang.

“Who? Jacob Astor?” my mother quipped. Jacob Astor was a very rich and famous fur trader. Whenever my mama wanted to criticize my daddy, she compared him to Jacob Astor.

“No, darling, it’s a Chinook I trade with. He has a gift for you!” It was a tasseled doeskin bag, hand-stitched with beads in red and yellow with blue borders on a white background.

We heard my mama say “Oy vey!” Mama says “oy vey” when she is either amazed or annoyed.

Chief Spidis thought she was greeting him and answered, “Oy vey!” then smiled. His front teeth were brilliant gold.

“He wants to taste your latkes, Princess!”

Spidis thought my mama’s latkes were so delicious he took some back across the river to his tribe.

It so happened that Spidis’ son, Comcomly, was suffering a high fever that broke right after he was fed one of my mama’s latkes.

So Spidis and his people thought her potato pancakes possessed magic healing powers, like chicken soup!

On each of the seven remaining nights of Hanukkah, Spidis returned with more and more of his tribe. By the third night there were so many Chinooks my daddy sent some of the Chinese who worked near his salmon smoke house to peel potatoes.

By the final and eighth night of Hanukkah nearly all of Spidis’ band were camped outside of our cabin waiting for mama’s crispy latkes!

And the miracle of it all was that just as the oil in the Holy Temple lasted for eight nights, so did my mama’s latkes!

To learn how to play the game of dreidel and to find an easy recipe for latkes visit: www.myjewishlearning.com/ Be sure to get an adult to help you make the latkes.

Special thanks to Carolyn Le for this week’s illustration. To see more of her work, visit www.coroflot.com /crlynle.

This year Hanukkah starts on Friday, Dec. 11.

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