The Passover Story in Memes

My family has an annual tradition of telling the story in a creative way so here it is, told through memes:

my new pomegranate hanukkah menorah :-)

chag sameach everyone ☺️

big shout out to frogs for helping free the Jewish people from slavery

Happy 2nd Night of Hanukkah!

HAG HANUKKAH SAMEACH!

This is the 2nd post of our first-ever 8 days of Hanukkah Tumblr celebration featuring surprising Hanukkah-related records from our holdings.

By Miriam Kleiman, Program Director for Public Affairs

The 1926 Sefer Sipur Nes Hanukkah (Book of the Story of the Miracle of Hanukkah) pictured below is from Baghdad, Iraq. How it became part of our holdings is almost as dramatic as the Hanukkah story itself!

From the Iraqi Jewish Archive online here.

On May 6, 2003, just days after the Coalition forces took over Baghdad, American soldiers searching for nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons entered Saddam Hussein’s flooded intelligence headquarters. In the basement, under four feet of water, they found thousands of books and documents relating to the Iraqi Jewish community, dating from 1540 to the 1970s. This book was part of that cache.

The water-logged materials quickly became moldy in Baghdad’s intense heat and humidity. National Archives experts were flown to Baghdad via military transport to assess the damage and recommend preservation treatment. The National Archives and its partners painstakingly preserved, cataloged, and digitized the books and documents.  

The Sefer Sipur Nes Hanukkah, written in Judeo-Arabic, includes the Hanukkah blessings and the story of the miracle of Hanukkah: that enough oil to light the menorah in the temple in Jerusalem for a single night lasted, instead, for 8 days. To celebrate this miracle, it is customary to lots of fried foods including latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts). The once-vibrant Iraqi Jewish community celebrated Hanukkah with a traditional local delicacy - a sort of Iraqi funnel cake known as zengoula (or jalabi). 

Learn more in this “Behind the Scenes” video of the Discovery and Recovery of the Iraqi Jewish Archive!

Go into the state-of-the-art Conservation Lab at the National Archives at College Park to see the work done to save this collection!

Happy first night of Hanukkah!

I was searching for some pretty Hanukkah gifs to schedule a post tomorrow wishing my Jewish followers Happy Hanukkah and I found a fit/shape/body building site that posted this

And I thought to myself, I simply must show my Jewish followers fit Menorah Man

כָּל אֶחָד הוּא אוֹר קָטָן וְכֻלָנוּ אוֹר אֵיתָן Happy Chanukah!

HAG HANUKKAH SAMEACH!

For the first time EVER, the National Archives Tumblr will feature 8 days of Hanukkah! Not the typical “Hanukkah at the White House” photos,* but some unusual records from our holdings, including this:

1956 patent application for a Menorah! Featuring… cowboys, horses, tassels, and what may be mistletoe, along with traditional Jewish stars and dreidels!

Design Patent Case File No. D179,212 - Design for a Menorah, NARA ID167821631.

“Marked up” version:

Closeup of Hanukkah cowboys!

* But if you are interested in Hanukkah at the White House, see: Hanukkah at the White House, Pieces of History blog by Susan Donius, Executive for Legislative Archives, Presidential Libraries, and Museum Services.

Chag Sameach to all my Jewish followers!

Happy Passover!

Rabbi Yitzchak Greenberg

you though this was gonna be a christmas post? guess again bitch! happy hanukkah! may your latkes be delicious and you have a blessed holiday season! אני אוהב את כולכם כל כך !!!

Here are 10 of the BEST Passover TV episodes.