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 Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 11:36 am
Chana laughed. Perceptive kid. "Well, yes, eventually he did. You see, he was very mad at King Antiochus for destroying the sacred Temple in Jerusalem. So, Matthias and his sons organized enough people to start a small war. Judah led the band, and they were called the Maccabees.
"The Greek army was much bigger, but the Maccabees knew the land and they were able to defeat the Greeks. Victorious, they returned to Jerusalem. Everyone was celebrating.
"Then they came to the Temple. All of the decorations were wrecked; some were smashed, others stolen. The great Menorah was bent out of shape, and the eternal flame had gone out. The Maccabees were distraught. What could they do? There was only enough oil left to keep the flame going for one day. It would take eight days to make more!
"They filled the lamp and lit the flame. Then they began working to make more of the special oil. Others helped to clean up and fix up the Temple.
"It was a miracle! For eight days the eternal flame burned, though all could swear there had been only enough oil for one.
"And that is why Jews celebrate Hannukah. It lasts eight days and nights, just like the oil did in the miracle. We remember the bravery of the Maccabees against the mighty Greek army as well. That's why the letters on the dreidel say 'a miracle happened there.'" The beaver woman looked over at her audience of one who'd sat quietly through the whole thing.
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 11:45 am
"Ah! That's really cool. Reminds me of that miracle Jesus did with the bread and the fish"
It was always a great story when a little army managed to stand up to a much bigger one
"But how do you play it?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 11:59 am
"Uh...sure," Chana said, deciding to not pursue the issue of Jew not knowing a thing about Jesus, except that he'd been Jewish. There was even a rumor that he'd been studying to become a rabbi...
She'd debate it with Stewart later, she decided.
"When you play it, each letter has another meaning. You play with pennies, or tokens, or beans, or whatever. Everyone has their own, and there's a pile in the middle. They all take turns spinning the dreidel. If it lands on gimmel, that player gets to take everything in the middle. If it lands on hey, that player takes half of what's in the middle. If the dreidel lands on nun, nothing happen. But if it lands on shin, that player has to put one of their tokens in the middle." Chana cocked her head as she looked at Cody. "Simple, right?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:05 pm
"But... if you get to take the tokens from the pile so many times, doesn't the game get boring? Or end really soon?"
He took another spoonful out of the plate and started chewing, still unaware of the amounts of raw fish and sea food that were in the middle
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:10 pm
That reminded Chana that she had yet to finish her bagel. She took a bite and only once she'd swallowed it did she respond. "Does playing tag or hide-and-go-seek or heads-up-seven-up get boring?" she asked, turning the tables.
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:17 pm
"No, but it's not the same thing"
Actually Cody had never played heads-up-seven-up, but he did know how to play hide & seek and that didn't involve tokens
As for this game he never played it but if people started taking so many tokens in the beggining, then what would be the point of fighting over the last ones? It would be like monopoly, very fun in the beggining, but awfully boring in the end
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:24 pm
Chana shrugged. "You're right, they're not quite the same. That's 'cause a lot of people like to play dreidel with real money. Then they get to keep what they've won," she told the boy, and focused on finishing her bagel. Mmmmm...some things she'd never lose her taste for.
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:31 pm
"Like poker!?"
Now that really raised Cody's interest. He always had asked his father to teach him how to play it, but he was always told he'd have to be of legal age first, or his mother would kill them both
But when he unconciously raised himself off his seat, the bag slipped off the chair and spilled its contents all over the floor, sea shells, pebbles and sand that got mixed with it
"Ah crap!"
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:39 pm
Chana blinked in surprise. "Yes, like poker--" she was saying when Cody's bag opened up all over the floor.
"Oh, here! Let me help you with that," she told the boy, getting down on hands and knees to help. She grabbed her thick, flat tail in one hand to keep it from crushing the shells and began sweeping what she could into one central area under the table.
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:08 pm
In one side Cody wanted to shove her away and keep her from seeing his collection. In the other he wanted help getting them out of sight as soon as possible
The second side won. She already seen the shells anyway
"Thanks"
Pretty soon the shells and pebbles were all back into the bag and this time a knot prevented the same from happening again. Only a few of them got smashed, from falling under the pebbles. He'd have to take those out back at his room
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:14 pm
"You're welcome. It's a nice collection." Chana's attention returned to her plate and she seemed to surprised to see that her bagel was finished. However, there was still lox and smoked fish on the plate which Chana began eating with a fork.
"Always happy to help," she told Cody.
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:18 pm
"It's not for me"
This time he actually slapped himself, though just to shut up his mouth. He almost spilled his super secret project. Maybe he just should go away before he started blabbering everything out
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:27 pm
"Oh." Chana couldn't really think who Cody would be collecting the pebbles and shells for...maybe he thought of Dr. Lockheart as a mother-figure, like Colche did? There was another idea niggling at the back of her mind...but she couldn't quite reach it. The beaver yawned. She'd eaten...now she could go back to sleep...right?
"I'm sorry," she said, barely preventing another yawn. "But I think I'd best be getting back to my duplex soon."
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:36 pm
"I have to go too. Need to take care of these and stuff..."
His plate was nearly empty, despite the big quantity of food Cody had put on it. And he wanted to go home to finish his project on time. Speaking of which...
"Er, do you know what day is today? I know we're in December, but I don't keep a calendar"
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:42 pm
Chana blinked back sleep. "Um...tonight's the last night of Hannukah. I think Christmas is in a few days...?" She yawned hugely. "'Scuse me! It's been great talking to you Cody...come visit me sometime this spring...26..."
Yawning all the way, Chana left the cafeteria for her duplex. There, she could sleep for as long as the beaver wanted after she'd lit nine little candles.
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