This week the Junior School campus has been blazing with Chanukah excitement! Our students have enthusiastically prepared their own Chanukah celebration packages, ready to use for last night which was the first night of Chanukah. The students designed and rolled their own sustainable beeswax candles with Eldad from JNF. Netzer and Hineni madrichim got our students up and involved in an immersive, Chanukah story play. Our very own Danny and Noa led the students thru decorating individual wooden svivonim that were then used to play sevivon tournaments! We appreciate the donation of beautiful boxes of Chanukah candles to all of our KDS Junior School children from The Joint Australia.

The mornings would of course not have been complete without the delicious sufganiyot enjoyed by all! Chanukah, celebrates the rededication of the Second Beit HaMikdash after the small army of the Maccabim miraculously defeated Antiochus and his great army. Finding only one night’s worth of olive oil to light the golden Menorah that was kindled each night in the Beit Hamikdash, the Maccabim witnessed a second miracle in that the oil burned for eight nights allowing time to replenish the oil reserves to keep the Menorah’s light eternal. Today, we publicize these miracles with the lighting of the Chanukiah, which bears a resemblance to the Menorah that stood in the Beit HaMikdash. Each night of Chanukah, widely known as the Festival of Lights, we add another commemorative candle to the eight branches. Like the Kohanim who lit the Menorah in the Beit HaMikdash, our Shamash candle does the work of lighting, thus ensuring the purely symbolic purpose of the other eight candles.

On behalf of the Junior JLife Team, I’d like to wish all our wonderful families a Chag Chanukah Sameach! Have a safe and enjoyable summer and we look forward to seeing you again in 2021.

Please enjoy our Chanukah video, featuring the shining lights of KDS (the students!) : HERE