As the days get shorter and colder, and we retreat indoors, protecting your family members from COVID is more important than ever. So just as we did for Passover and Rosh Hashanah, our Hanukkah festivities this year will need to be shifted to socially distant celebrations.
“Covid has affected and challenged us in ways we could never have imagined,” Rabbi Mendy Gurkov told Mom.com. “But we must not despair. We are currently faced with darkness and we must be strong and shine brighter than ever before.”
When is Hanukkah?
Keeping the traditions of Hanukkah: Ideas for celebrating during the pandemic
Shifra offered some other activities families can engage in over Zoom:
- Doughnut decorating contest (make it easy by using store-bought doughnuts)
- ”Chopped”-style latke cooking competition.
- Play Dreidel via Zoom (use Cash App or Venmo to send prize money to the winner_)
Other things to do together, while apart:
Cooking together
Preparing the Hanukkah meal together — and sharing the results with your extended family virtually — would be a great activity to lessen the distance. Award-winning cookbook author Joan Nathan specializes in popularizing dishes from throughout the Jewish diaspora. Explore her holiday recipes here.
Arts and crafts
Naama suggested putting the kids to work creating Hanukkah greeting cards. She’s put together some cute printables with sayings like “I Like You a Latke.”
Above all, this is a time to remember to be kind to one another, said Rabbi Gurkov.
“We can use this challenging time as an opportunity to grow, as a springboard to move forward. Be there for our loved ones even more. Be the helping hand, the listening heart, the loving neighbor," he said. "And we will come out of this, hopefully very soon, having reached greater heights of goodness and kindness, like the oil in the menorah, which always rises to the top.
"Together, with each good deed, we will make this world an even better place for all.”
