It was a party to end all parties, with perhaps more creativity than any single Chanukah event since eight days worth of oil were created out of one.

First the Beis of 313 West 83rd Street in Manhattan celebrated Chanukah with a hot dinner and its patented “Chanukah Jewpardy,” a terrific game show for all ages, plus menorah designing, doughnut decorating, chocolate lollipop making and more, all in celebration of the first night of Chanukah on Sunday, December 2.

Misha Zubarev, the filmmaker of the recent award-winning film “Acheinu” (based on a story by “America’s Maggid,” Rabbi Paysach Krohn) is offering the Jewish community another means of Jewish inspiration with a charming children’s book of numbers (not the Biblical Book of Numbers), “The Magnificent Nine”, designed to inspire with wit and entertainment with numbers, word plays, and gematrias, as well as beautiful and humorous color photos by a well-known illustrator.

The program held the attention of both the parents and children present and included a dramatic book reading by a special costumed cast, with each cast member representing a different number (which will never be just a number, again, to those who saw the presentation or read or will read the book). There was an interactive discussion led by the author, who then dispensed prizes to keep the interest at a peak level, and then signed copies of the first edition of the book, which is poised to enter a second printing in response to the demand of the early readership.

It was truly a party unlike any other, and the book is a “children’s book” unlike any other. The pictures can be enjoyed by children as young as 3, but the concepts, values and witty text can be enjoyed by adults of any age, up to 3 digits, until 120!

Note: The book is already available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com, and will be available in more Jewish bookstores in the near future, but searches on Amazon should be by the author, not by the title of the book.

By JLNJ Staff