In An Email From Mendy Pellin

Host of mendy.tv, he let me know that in his first week video (the only one I didn't see), we were mentioned... And he was correct - at 4:15 of this video there is a small review of Maccabees...

The video of Maccabees from NY1 TV station

December 15, 2006 Jews all over the world begin the celebration of Hanukkah Friday night at sundown. At the Jewish Children’s Museum in Crown Heights, the story of the holiday is being told in a new interactive musical show. NY1’s Stephane Simon filed the following report. The Macabee Show tells the story of Judah Macabee and the small Jewish army that defeated the mighty Syrian Greek forces 2,000 years ago in a fight for religious freedom. Visitors travel back in time, and even hide in the caves, before finding their way to the destroyed temple. “The little miracle of Hanukkah was that there was a cruise of oil that was found, that was only enough for one day but lasted all the eight days of Hanukkah,” explained Devorah Halberstam of the Jewish Children’s Museum. “And there you have story of Hanukkah.” “God made a miracle for eight day, and that's why we celebrate Hanukkah,” added a child who participated in the show. The show is interactive, so the kids feel like they're part of the story. But for the museum's matriarch, Devorah Halberstam, the story of Hanukkah is her story. On the fifth night of Hanukkah on December 1, 1994, the man who shot and killed her son, Ari, on the Brooklyn Bridge in March of that year, was found guilty. “And it was on that night that we saw where good rose over bad, and darkness turned into light for us, on a certain level,” said Halberstam. The museum opened in 2004, and is dedicated to Ari's memory, and to teaching tolerance in a fun playful setting. The museum was founded by a Lubavitch sect of Hasidic Jews. But since it opened in 2004, approximately 300,000 people of all backgrounds have come through the doors. Exhibits include a kosher supermarket, kitchen and, and the World of Good, which encourages good deeds. Now there are so many interactive activities here; kids can even climb through challah, which smells like fresh baked bread. Speaking of fresh baked goods, after the Hanukkah show kids are given the chance to decorate donuts. Fried foods are traditional on Hanukkah food because of the oil, but of course they also help make for a sweet holiday. Visitors to the museum can see the Macabee Show now through January 7. - Stephanie Simon www.jcm.museum www.Chanukah.org

Maccabees hits the news

Well, after entertaining around ten thousand children already, Maccabees has finally been hitting the news. Hard to imagine that something I wrote for fun over the summer would turn out this big. If anyone wants to check out some news articles, here they are.

http://crownheights.info/index.php?itemid=3779 - Crownheights.info article
http://www.col.org.il/show_news.asp?25236 - Chabad OnLine article, with 2 pages of pictures
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?&aid=65129&search_result=1&stid=9 - TV station NY1
http://crownheights.info/index.php?itemid=4106 - Crownheights.info another article
http://www.wnbc.com/video/10544126/index.html# - TV station NBC
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/stage/ny-b4987239nov24,0,5321116.story?coll=ny-theater-mezz - Newsday mentions us as a stage perfomance in NY.
http://www.tzivos-hashem.org/Article.asp?dept=20&Article=265 - Some pictures from a friendship circle group along with their report.

A picture from Benny

Thanks to my brother, and with the wondrous laws that govern our countries and allow us to enter other blogs and steal pictures, I will put up this great picture of Yummy and myself after one of the shows (not the one she starred in).

Also pictured is Chayale, whom my relatives want to see, and a special picture for Levi A.