The week of Chanukah at JKHA was filled with meaningful and fun ways to celebrate the holiday. Highlights of the second half of the holiday included the lower school traveling around the building to different spots, competing in a photo scavenger hunt. Seventh and eighth grade students donned their aprons as they worked in teams to prepare creative meals for a Chopped cooking competition as well as competed in a “Chanukah Madness” basketball tournament. Rabbi Rosenbloom of Living Legacy gave the early childhood students a fascinating demonstration of how olive oil is made. The children were then able to squeeze their olives and explore the same special shemen used in the mikdash.

Chanukah continued with a “Chanukah Showdown” in middle school. A friendly competition ensued all day as students earned tickets from faculty for a variety of acts, Tickets were then deposited for a raffle for grade prizes at four different times during the day. The day also included a middle school Chanukah Kahoot, the Brain Challenge Game Show and Pictionary competitions. It was a blacklight Chanukah chagiga as students headed to the gymnasium and outfitted themselves with Chanukah face paint and blacklight tape that glowed in a myriad of colors in the blacklit gym. The cool vibe set the stage for lively singing and dancing during the spirited chagiga.

JKHA wrapped up Chanukah with one final day of programming for the eighth day. The morning kicked off with third grade lighting up the stage in the Epstein-Stein Auditorium with their Chanukah play. As a culminating activity to their electricity unit, fourth grade students wired menorahs that they designed and built. They displayed their finished products to lower school classes today. For the conclusion of Chanukah in the lower school, everyone gathered in the Epstein-Stein Auditorium to watch the winners from each grade compete in a division-wide Super Mega Dreidel competition. Middle school was buzzing as parents joined students for a Moadim L’STEAMcha learning opportunity. Families studied sources together about the deeper meaning and importance of olive oil, and then participated in a STEAM activity involving oil and its properties.