Chanukah Game Night
a Jewish Women's Circle event recap
Last night, December 12, 2012, at this year's 2nd JWC event we landed on a 'gimmel of good times' during the Hanukah-themed evening of food, friendship and fun! Thirty five women carved time out of a busy holiday party-filled week to gather together to be inspired and entertained, as can be expected from our Jewish Women's Circle!
It was truly a Hanukah wonderland of beauty at CJC, thanks to the always outstanding creative designs of our talented Batsheva Bollinger ! Batsheva transformed the Chabad Center with silver, white and light blue decor. She utilized bow-wrapped gift boxes and glittery silver wine gift containers as branches of menorahs, used hanging vines with glowing lights over the gorgeous buffet, set giant martini glass table centerpieces, dripping with beads and holding floating candles...it was a never ending sight of loveliness that set such a festive atmosphere!
Our dinner was as delectable as the decor was delightful. An amazing latke bar, complete with several tempting toppings, as well as three enormous, colorful and yummy salads, baguettes and fruit - all displayed with flair to feed our famished faces:-) We had traditional potato latkes (always a hit), zucchini latkes, cajun sweet potato latkes and my new favorite, guacamole/bean latkes! They were all just great and MUCH kudos to Cindy Cisneros and Bassies home helper Olinda Olmos for the latke labors of love:-)
But wait...there's more! Our dessert table featured a beautifully displayed sufganiot (donut) bar, where we could sweeten up with oodles of candy toppings or even dip our donuts in hot melted chocolate! It was a sight and a taste to savor! (please see photos attached at the bottom).
Everyone was warmly welcomed by Siri Smith, who introduced two new ladies in attendance, and then asked Wendy Lupul to light the Center's menorah for the 5th night of Hanukah. We next played an ice breaker game around our tables. Each woman had a chance to share a favorite Hanukah memory, a favorite gift or just explain our holiday traditions, past or present. Then Siri called up our vivacious Rebbitzen Bassie Marcus to talk about Hanukah and her recent trip to Israel.
Bassie and Rabbi Marcus had a fantastic time in Israel at Hanukah time - seeing sufganiot stands and menorahs everywhere they looked! They enjoyed two Shabbats in Israel , one in Jerusalem at the Old City home of another Rabbi and his wife. This couple hosts dozens of strangers for Shabbat regularly and provided a stimulating evening of conversation. One of the 'pearls of wisdom' gleaned that night Bassie recalled and I will now paraphrase, was that just like in lighting candles or oil in a menorah, as people we should try to draw out, or illuminate others by patiently bringing our own light to their side. Instead of lighting a candle from the top, which often simply extinguishes the struggling flame, so too being over-bearing or suffocating someone by dampening their inner light is not the best way to enlighten others. We should all try to be a candle, bringing light into the world by illuminating with kindness & understanding.
Next up was the fun and games portion of our evening. Our first game was Pictionary and we divided the room in half to make two teams of approx. 18 women each. Then we proceeded to call volunteers to draw Jewish related picture clues for their team members to figure out. We played this and a Jewish version of Taboo - a word guessing game for several rounds until points were counted to determine winners. Prizes for these games were donated hair products and giant chocolate menorah pops! Good job teams A & B!
The best game of the night was the Hanukah Trivia quiz, followed by an auction (using tokens won from the trivia game) of about 8 big, beautifully wrapped boxed gifts, some great and some gag! The ladies had a blast working together with their table team-mates to shout out the answers to the trivia and collect tokens. Once the auctioning of gifts started, the room really erupted with competitive fervor, but all were good sports - even the team that bid every last token on what turned out to be a giant box of toilet paper! Other prizes won were really cute t-shirts donated by Pam Fecher, who produces them to raise money for breast cancer, donated Hanukah place-mats, towels & pot holders, Starbucks coffee and tea mugs & large bags of coffee beans, hair products donated by Howard and Charon Jones , Bath and Body Works lotions and potions and the other 'gag' gift of mini dental flosses.
HUGE thanks go out to Gabi Dakteris, Roz Gantman, Cindy Cisneros , Ina Welland, Mashie and Chana Marcus, Batsheva Bollinger , Jennifer Vigillete, Tricia Gassman, Alejandra Paz and Joelle Quinn.
Get excited because our next JWC event on Feb. 13th is a return of the popular and incredibly fun Drum & Rhythm Circle! If you missed it last time you won't want to miss this opportunity for a genuinely unique & proven therapeutic experience!
In the meantime - thanks for reading this loooong review of the JWC event and enjoy the remaining days/nights of Hanukah. Also - Shabbat Shalom and pretty soon, a most Happy, Healthy & Harmonious 2013!
Dara Linson