Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday also known as the festival of the lights, begins at sunset tomorrow this year and lasts until sunset on Dec. 29. Taiwan’s only synagogue, which is headed by Rabbi Ephraim Einhorn and located at the Sheraton Taipei Hotel, will observe the beginning of Hanukkah with a service starting at 5:10 pm tomorrow.
Hanukkah (also spelled as Chanukah) commemorates the re-dedication of the Temple of Jerusalem in 165 BC by the Maccabees, a group of Jewish dissidents, after their victory over the Hellenist Syrians, who had outlawed Jewish practices in Judea (the southern part of the historic Land of Israel).
As part of his campaign, Antiochus, the Greek king of Syria, desecrated the temple by ordering that it be used for the worship of Zeus, which included sacrifices made on its altar. After their victory, the Maccabees reclaimed the temple and built a new altar and vessels for service, including a menorah. They could only find enough consecrated oil to light the menorah for one day, but it is said to have burned for eight days, which Hanukkah commemorates.
The menorah holds eight candles representing the eight days the oil lasted in the temple, as well as an extra candle called a shamash, which is also lit each night and often used to light the other candles.
Einhorn has sets of Hanukkah candles available at the synagogue for anyone who needs them.
Other traditions include making and eating latkes, or potato pancakes, spinning the dreidel, a top, and giving gelt, or money, to children.
Einhorn founded the synagogue almost 30 years ago. The services there, including the tomorrow’s marking the beginning of Hanukkah, are open to all, said Einhorn, who often hosts students from National Taiwan University (where he occasionally gives talks) who are curious about Judaism: “We have a saying above the door of the synagogue that says ‘this is the gate of the Lord and all the righteous are welcome to enter’ — that means all good people.”
The synagogue is located in the Sheraton Taipei Hotel, at 12, Zhongxiao E Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市忠孝東路一段12號). Call (02) 2321-5511 for more information. Rabbi Einhorn can be reached at (02) 2591-3565.
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless