Today is a special day--for the first time and last time in some many thousands of years, Hannukah and Thanksgiving fall on the same day. It sounds like a fun day to be an American Jew. It sounds like a good day to be an American Expat in the country roughly 50 miles to my West. But I'm in Jordan, a country that could not give two shits about either holiday. Geography makes no difference, though. This post is all about my Thanksgivikah celebration.
I will start it with a picture of my proudest project to date: The world's most creative (nearly) Kosher Channukiah. Yes--those are mini birthday candles stuck in a cucumber. Yes--the shamash is made of a piece of pepper stuck in with a piece of a paper clip. Yes--I'm the least crafty person EVER.
We at SIT decided to have a Thanksgivikuh potluck. This afternoon (normal Thanksgiving food time), we sat down on the floor in our main sitting room to enjoy our potluck feast. We had Turkey, stuffing, Salad, mashed potatoes, mac n' cheese, green beans, and sweet potatoes. I made Latkes.
Here's the story.
The first challenge came when I had to explain to my mom what Thanksgiving is a few days ago. My mom asked me a few nights ago if there was a holiday coming up. I said that Eid Thanksgiving was happening. She asked what we did on this holiday. I explained that on Thanksgiving, family comes together and eats. And eats. And eats. I realized just how anticlimactic Thanksgiving is when I mentioned that literally, it's what they do every fucking day: Gather the whole family together to eat way too much food communally, and start your meal way too early in the evening to be considered dinner. My family eats between 4 and 5:30 every day.
She then asked me if it's a Jewish holiday or not. I said no--It's an American holiday. I'm American, I'm Jewish, mish mushkila. She asked how since all American holidays are christian holidays. I said no. Lucky for me, she has a daughter in Georgia that celebrates Halloween. Only when she recalled her muslim daughter celebrating an American holiday did she understand. Success! I was so proud. But there's another holiday starting this week...is it worth explaining it...? I'm a little bit ashamed to say that the answer is no. It was difficult enough trying to explain one holiday. I wasn't going to confuse her.
Mama, it's Eid al Thanksgiving.
Fast forward to Wednesday night. I went over to a friend's apartment to begin the latke prep process. I grated 15 potatoes, hand grated 5 onions, added eggs and flour, and put them in tupperware containers. Only while I was doing this did I decide to call my mom and ask for permission to use the kitchen during the day on Thursday. I was SHOCKED when she said yes. Legitimately.
As the sun set, I looked outside, and realized that Hannukah ahd started and I didn't have a Menorah. Believe it or not, unlike in America, Hannukah candles are not universally sold at grocery stores in Amman. To make it a step more extreme, Chabad isn't even standing on street corners passing out Channukiot. This means creativity is a must. For the first night, before I had gotten it together to buy some candles, I decided that I would take a piece of newspaper, light it on fire, and transfer the flame to another piece of newspaper. Although it didn't get to burn for the Halakhic 18 minutes, I decided it was better than lighting down the Hyatt Apartments.
The Cooking
I was terrified to use my family's kitchen, but I figured it would be OK. My friend Diana joined me, and I bought my own oil, paper towel, and everything else I would need to cook in the family's house.
Sure enough, as Diana and I start setting up, my sister is there, watching us like a hawk. Mama wasn't home, and nothing was going to go wrong in that kitchen. Sure enough, everything was going perfectly. Latkes were frying, potatoes were being peeled, the kitchen was smelling like diabetes. We sampled the first few, and they tasted just like the impending heart attack they should.
Then the honeymoon ended. While trying to get over her fear of frying, she spilled a pan full of hot oil on herself. One of her thighs and one of her hands got a huge amount of oil on them. Sure enough, just as the spill happened and she started reacting to the pain, the front door opens with my very confused host brother. My host family luckily had burn medicine handy, so we were able to get her taken care of fairly quickly. My host sister was amazing. After a few minutes of getting Diana's burns under water, she looked at me and told me to get back to the kitchen for the latkes.
I went back to the kitchen, slid on the oily floor, and got back to the frying pans. 10 minutes later, Diana and my host dad left to go to the hospital (she got some medicine and is now fine. An hour later, with the help of my host sister, I was done. Not surprisingly, my family was unwilling to let me clean anything, even a grater. I was a little bit upset about this in principle, but I'm not complaining. It means I didn't have to deal with the floor.
I haven't yet been home since I left with my Latkes to go to SIT for the feast, but I have a strange feeling that the kitchen will go back to being off limits to me--and all future girls that stay with my host family. When I heard my host sister tell my mom over the phone, she said something like "an American girl made a mess." They kept telling me it wasn't a problem, but...I mean...
The Second Night of Hannukah - Thanksgiving
SIT's thanksgiving feast was awesome. Everyone stepped up so that we had an amazing spread of food for dinner and dessert. Our Arabic professors and SIT staff showed up, and they were really impressed that we knew how to cook. They keep telling us that our group is among the better ones they've had, but after telling us this is only the second Thanksgiving celebration with a turkey that has ever actually happened, I believe them. The Latkes were a big hit. A few kids on my program had never had latkes before (I can't believe it either), and they liked them even though they were served sans sour cream (which doesn't exist in this country and applesauce. I was super proud of myself. But not as proud as I was of the Channukiah. Here's the food:
Channukah Time
After we had all sufficiently stuffed our faces, Chabad declared it candle lighting time in Amman, so the few Jews of us gathered to light Channukah candles. We told everyone they were welcome to join us, and in the end, about 15 of us crowded into the kitchen to light and bless my very crafty Channukiah. For roughly $2, I made it. Regardless of where in the world you are, you can celebrate the least religiously significant Jewish holiday ever.
Singing the blessings was magical for me. I am officially 6 months post op, and for the first time in four years, I sang the Hannukah blessings without hating the sound of my own voice. For the first time in four Channukahs, my voice didn't crack. As we finished singing the blessings, the evening call to prayer rang out from the mosques of Amman. I guess this achievement was big in Islam and Judaism.
Seriously, though being Jewish in Jordan is not the burden I expected it to be. It is not a source of shame, or a source of hostility. If anything, being Jewish is something that makes Muslims happy. If I'm not going to Muslim, at least I'm religious. Even with the Palestinian community, the problem isn't Jews--the problem is people that take their land. Each person I talk to explicitly tells me it's not a religious issue.
Tonight, I plan on going home, telling my family that Eid Al Thanksgiving was great, and that a Jewish holiday is happening all this week. Inshallah, I'll light the candles at home with them tomorrow so they can see Hannukah in Jordan. I might chicken out though. We'll see.
Wrapping Up - As Cliche as Possible
I have a lot to be thankful this Thanksgiving. Some are more significant than others, but all are important.
- Being able to sing again
- Being in Jordan and having the chance to ask a lot of questions
- Being in a community that inspires me to try to answer those questions
- My family and friends that supported my decision to come to Jordan
- My host family that has taken me in with love and food
- My SIT tribe that has kept me somewhat sane during the craziness of these last few months
- Being happy, healthy, well fed, and filled with ample excuses to procrastinate doing work
If you read this, thanks a lot, and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving and a wonderful rest of Hannukah.
Becca
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