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Pikesville

Greenspring Avenue

December 8, 2012

18. More Menorah

“That’s my rebbe,” smiles Yitz and Sora Fleischman’s youngest daughter, gesturing toward a 4-foot, gray-bearded, plastic rabbi in the Russian fur hat on display at her porch.

About an hour after Sabbath ends, families begin gathering at the Fleischman’s home, which is literally bringing the light of Chanukah to its Pikesville neighborhood. Yellow, blue, red, and green bulbs outline the fence while bright white lights spell out “THE CHANUKAH HOUSE” in block letters atop the first-floor awning, and an 11-foot menora fills a corner of the front yard. There’s a train garden, Jewish snowmen, and blown-up toy dradles amid a wide mix of kitschy decorations, including a near life-size fiddler on the roof, a flying, yarmulke-wearing “Hershel” Potter as well as an Adam Sandler-figure belting out it’s “so much funnukah to celebrate Hanukah . . .”

There’s also a glass-enclosed, 3-foot Barbie on the lawn lighting a menora. Why? As the display notes, Barbie was the creation of Ruth Handler, a Jewish businesswoman, who named the doll after her pre-teen daughter Barbara. Nearby, Sora Fleischman’s mother passes out homemade Star of David, dreidel, and menora-shaped sugar cookies.

Soon, members of the Ohr Chadash Academy arrive for the First Night ceremony. Principal Akevy Greenblatt helps two of his third and fourth-grade students oil-lit two large menoras and then, he and Yitz lead everyone in the reciting of the Hanerot Halalu.

Afterwards, the kids head over to pester the aforementioned, diminutive “Chanukah Rabbi,” known for his sense of humor, with questions—per custom.

“Do you have an iPhone?” asks a boy.

“Yes, and I have the Angry Birds app,” replies the ancient rabbi (Yitz’ uncle via hidden microphone). “I play all the time.”

“What’s your high score?” another child shoots back. As the near life-size, plastic rabbi, who somehow possess a twinkle in his eye, hedges—a dozen or so kids burst into laughter.

“How old are you?” asks one young girl.

“I’m very old,” comes the answer in a Yiddish-accent. “You should live to be as old as me.”