To the Editor:
Every year about this time someone rails about the war on Christmas.
What I am experiencing is a war on Chanukah. When I went to one bookstore, there was not a single item for Chanukah (no one can say that about Christmas). When I went to a CVS, again not a single item for Chanukah.
I was at City Hall this week. People were decorating a Christmas tree in the Vola Lawson Lobby. Again nothing about Chanukah.
When I first moved to Alexandria 40 years ago, there were two synagogues in Alexandria and I felt a Jewish presence here, among many other cultures.
Now 40 years later, there are three synagogues in Alexandria (and another in Arlington that provides a new Jewish face-Kol Ami, the only Reconstructionist Jewish congregation in Northern Virginia) and many more Jews in Alexandria. We can even take pride in electing the first Jewish woman as mayor of Alexandria.
What I cannot find is a business community interested in selling Chanukah-related items.
Undaunted, three synagogues (Agudas Achim Congregation of Alexandria, Congregation Etz Hayim of Arlington and Kol Ami) are joining together with FocusMusic to hold a Chanukah concert Saturday night Dec, 12 at 7 p.m. at Congregation Etz Hayim.
Ein Lanu Z'man (ELZ) is the featured act. ELZ features Hazzan Elisheva Dientsfrey of Agudas Achim Congregation, along with other members of that congregation. Their music comes from the Jewish tradition, with a diverse repertoire that features folk, classical, and rock influences, among others.Their Hebrew name, which means “We have no time” in English, describes their lives. ELZ includes talented and busy members
of the Agudas Achim family who work in a variety of professions and who, collectively, have many family and volunteer obligations, but who manage to find the time to create innovative, interesting, and inspiring music together.
Opening will be Hannah Spiro, a Jewish Rock Radio emerging artist and a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College preparing to be a rabbi.
Herb Cooper-Levy
Alexandria