It's Chanukah everybody.

It's Chanukah everybody. 

Yippee folks. There's something to celebrate, something to cling onto by way of consolation and maybe the start of something completely new. You may have heard about the first piece of excellent news in recent days and if you haven't heard about the glad tidings then you must have cut yourself off from all contact with the outside world. The vaccine for Covid19 is now being unveiled and across the length and breadth of Britain, help is on its way. A 90-year- old Irish lady was the first to be administered with that seemingly elusive vaccine and everything is on an upward trajectory. Who would have thought it possible? 

But today we also welcome the arrival of the Jewish cholesterol fest Chanukah, the festival of lights, a symbolic reminder to all Jews across the world that you can eat doughnuts and latkes(potato cakes) with complete impunity regardless of what people may be telling you. Forget for a while the dietary disadvantages of gobbling down the kind of foods designed to pile on the stones and do nothing for your waistline. 

Chanukah also represents a chapter from Biblical times when doughnuts were just yummy indulgences that were delectably sweet and besides who cared about the calories or the expanding midriff? The simple fact of the matter is that Chanukah is great fun, a chance for kids and adults to park their inhibitions where nobody can find them and just get on with the business of eating, drinking and dancing Israeli dances. 

How we've reached out for this day in the middle of the all-enveloping darkness because, quite frankly, some of us are at the end of our tether, gnashing our teeth with frustration and going out of our minds. Well, not quite but it seems as if the coronavirus is slowly playing tricks with our minds. There are points during the day when the gradual decrease in infections and new cases feels as if all our birthdays have come at the same time. Then we hear about the catastrophic rise in the number of deaths. 

So it is that the Jewish population tries to ignore the apocalypse that just keeps hammering away at our subconscious and think of doughnuts, sweets and kids running around their schools in fancy dress completely oblivious to the cautionary warnings and ever-present gloom. They'll still be wary and cautious, still suspicious of the inherent dangers that still lurk like a glowering shadow in a haunted castle late at night. 

However, this is no time to dwell on the last 12 months because, quite frankly, if we did that, we may be tempted to just fall into the deepest depression. The lack of physical interaction with family, colleagues and friends has combined to drive us to the edge of madness. Yet just for a week the whole of the Jewish population will be abandoning itself to dizzy, giddy delirium, barely concealed elation, happiness on a monumental scale and then spinning our dreidels(spinning tops).

In a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society, religious festivals and holidays can often be lost in the crazy, helter-skelter speed of modern life. We tend to overlook or just take for granted the temporary breaks in the year, the subtle differences in the changing moods of the year. For almost 365 days of the year we commit ourselves to self improvement, education, self advancement, learning new skills, going to work, coming home from work and doing the same thing day after day after day. 

This year the sheer frightening momentum of the way in which we might have been living our lives up until now has been severely and tragically disrupted by a global pandemic that none of us can get our heads around. Suddenly that repetitive merry go round, Groundhog Day routine has been brought to a juddering halt. We wake up to the latest viral developments and close our eyes because our minds have now been conditioned to fear and that must have a devastating impact on us because for roughly 100 years we have never seen anything quite like this. 

Still, it gives proud Jews such as myself undiluted pleasure in flagging up this joyful period of escapism from the toil and drudgery, this jolly knees up, this Jewish revelry, our wonderful holiday. We'll be chanting and singing once again at the top of our voices, hugging each other perhaps reluctantly owing to wretched circumstances, smiling endlessly and swallowing the jam from our doughnuts as if we were the children we used to be. 

And finally we'll be lighting the menorah, the Chanukah candles which flare into life shortly before Christmas. We'll be singing the traditional blessings and prayers, acknowledging our acquaintances, parents, grandparents and the whole family collective. Today marks the beginning of a yearly ritual of sweetness and light, of being grateful for everything we've got and doughnut scoffing. So to all of my wonderfully loving, supportive family and friends may we all have a fantastic Chanukah and, shortly, Christmas.