My Favorite New Menorahs -- 2010 Hanukkah Gift Guide

Taking an innovative approach to Hanukkah doesn’t mean downloading a menorah-lighting-app to your iPhone. Keep tradition burning with these modern interpretations of menorahs for your home:

Areaware improves an ancient design by integrating a tray to their Wrought Iron Menorah ($150) that catches the candle drippings. I love this menorah because the lines are sleek, simple and modern but the heaftiness makes it feel like a barn-shed tool in your hand. Very manly.

Peacocks are a hot motif this year. Jonathan Adler’s Peacock Menorah ($120) will give you something to strut about: either you’ve given the best gift at the party or you’ve got the finest menorah on the block. (Pictured with our candles.)

Designed in Israel, handmade from resin in a Bulgarian fair-trade women's work group, the Funky Menorah by Lalo Treasures ($98) will fill all eight crazy nights with sparkle and flair.

Upgrade your menorah lighting experience. Use modern, tubular, drip-less candles like these above that we gifted to Jonathan Adler ($14). Lose the free matches from the diner, light up with a bang with Pistolight by Sooda Mayer ($10) or go old style but in style with Jonathan Adler's Pipe Match Holder and Strike!

See our entire 2010 Hanukkah Gift Guide for unique Hanukkah gifts for everyone. Even your non-Jewish friends will want this stuff it's so fab.

Hanukkah Gifts For Dad -- 2010 Hanukkah Gift Guide

For Hanukkah this year we're focusing on the rebel in the family . . . Dear Old Dad. While he may seem to be under Mom's thumb, deep down he has a heart of a Maccabee, the Jewish army whose victorious revolt led to the Festival of Lights.


Whether it's the first night or the last, the Hammer Bottle Opener ($10) and Union of Jewish Handymen T-Shirt ($24.95) are perfect gifts to honor Dad's hammer like ways. Add a Set of 4 He'Brew Beer Pint Glasses ($26.95) to keep smashing the stereotype that Jews don’t drink.


Artori Design Studio's Action Bookends ($46) will certainly recognize Pop's 007 style. Of course, if Dad is really the kind of guy who likes to run with scissors, then the Butter Dish by Jonathan Adler ($58) will let him dine with his shoe on the table.


With a pair of Sterling Half-Shekel Cufflinks ($99) and a Yiddish Proverb Money Clip ($16.99) in his pocket, your dad will be as gangster as Arnold Rothstein as he slips you some gambling gelt to play No Limit Texas Dreidel.

Visit ModernTribe for Hanukkah gifts for all the miracles in your life.

PunkTorah Fridays at ModernTribe

Happy Hanukkah from PunkTorah! Here we have three great videos to kick off the holidays. First, this week's d'var Torah by PunkTorah web designer Michael. Second, a video with both of us on candle lighting. And finally, a musical treat by our friends Girls In Trouble.

Shabbat Shalom!

Parshat Vayeishev


Hanukkah Candle Lighting How-To


Girls In Trouble - I Was A Desert (Live in Atlanta at The Highland Ballroom)

What's New At ModernTribe

Suri Holmes Cruise : Green Doggy Backpack + Kitty by Manuella
A child's backpack shaped as a dog or cat to contain a snack, extra clothes, and other important items. The bag can be carried as a backpack, handbag or connected to a stroller with its adjustable handle. Cotton corduroy. Made in Israel by children toy designer Manuella, this is the perfect backpack for the first day of school!

Wash: Warm. Size:14" wide x 10" Tall.

Choose: Yellow or Red or Green Doggy (The Suri Bag), or Green Kitty.

Green Doggy will ship December 18th.

Paper Dreidel
At ModernTribe, we believe that dreidels are not just "Jewish tops". Rather, they are works of cultural art.

This papercut dreidel is hand-assembled by artist Melanie Dankowicz.

An intricate lasercut work of art, signed, and numbered, it is elegantly displayed in a rounded glass dome (5" x 7.5") with a black painted base.

The perfect gift for someone who wants high quality, hand made Judaica with touches of old world antique elegance.

Hanukkah Couture Cards - Singles or Boxed Set
Aaron Potts N.Y.C. creates greeting cards that transport you to a world of high fashion runways and exclusive designers. The perfect Hanukkah card for the fashion maven, the style purveyor and the lover of art and culture.

The individual cards are called Hanukkah Darlings with two beauties surrounding the menorah. Inside the card reads, "Have a fabulous Hanukkah!" 5″ × 7″ Linen card comes with an envelope and metallic seal. All in a clear, protective sleeve.

The boxed set of eight are the Hanukkah Couture design with the single lovely lady. Packaged in a clear box with black grosgrain detailing, each 5″ × 7″ set includes the following: 8 cards (1 design) – 8 envelopes – 8 metallic envelope seals.

Inside the card reads, "Happy Hanukkah!"

Pop Judaica Announces Insta-Jew Kits and Moses Toast

As Part of Cyber Monday Fun, PopJudaica.com Offers Insta-Jew Kits: Mystery Bags of Jewish Items for Hanukkah Gifts and Moses Toast: a Piece of Toast with the Image of Moses Burned Into It. Money Raised From Sales of These Funny Jewish Gifts will Benefit the Jewish Non Profits Jewcy and JDub Records.

You can now buy $10 Insta-Jew Kits along with other funny Jewish gifts when shopping for Hanukkah gifts. Insta-Jew Kits are mystery bags containing at least three items whose value and quality are not guaranteed. One of the items will likely be a t-shirt and with it a chotsky, a CD, a book, or some underpants with Yiddish on the tuchus. Modeled after Woot.com’s Random Crap (affectionately called “Bag of Crap”) the Insta-Jew kits are a fun way to practically give away a bunch of quirky, weird Jewish stuff which has landed in our warehouse and raise money for non-profits that enrich the youthful Jewish American culture.

Moses Toast: Moses with the Ten Commandments

I’m a religious man — I knew it was a sign from G-d.”

We are allowing no returns, exchanges, special requests or kvetching when it comes to the Insta-Jew Kits. This is just a fun surprise for 10 bucks, great for Hanukkah party gag-gifts, and a way to raise money for JDub and Jewcy.

To extend the fun further, we are also announcing our recent miraculous discovery: Moses Toast. Pop Judaica employee Patrick Aleph recounts, “we were making Insta-Jew Kits and took a toast break. When I took the toast out of the oven, it had the image of Moses on it. I’m a religious man — I knew it was a sign from G-d.” Rivlin Roberts explains the Moses Toast another way: “We remembered a news story about an Ebay listing for toast with an image of Jesus on it. We were laughing and saying how Jews would never see a deity in toast. Then we decided to have some fun with it.” A Jewish take on “Jesus Toast,” Moses Toast is a piece of toast with the image of Moses holding the Ten Commandments burned into it. The toast sells for $49.95 and 100% of the proceeds go to the non-profit Jewish music and media companies Jewcy.com and JDub Records.

Share Hanukkah Joy Sans Funny Jewish Man In Black Hat

I'm very proud of my friends Montica Pes and Jim Davies for the video they created for No Limit Texas Dreidel. The one-and-a-half minute video is funny and sexy and captures the sophisticated fun of No Limit Texas Dreidel.

What I love most about the video is what is not in it: no ridiculous caricature of the Orthodox Jewish man with peyas, dressed in a black hat and long coat, no yiddy-diddly-do music that you find accompanying most funny Jewish videos, no nose jokes or money jokes or jokes about mom.

The video is fresh, modern, and fun -- like the game.

Great job Montica & Jim. Thank you!

Enjoy & Go All Spin Tonight:

No Limit Texas Dreidel on The Jewish Channel's Modern Jewish Mom

The Jewish Channel has a new lifestyle show with Modern Jewish Mom Meredith Jacobs. Their Chanukah special is available On Demand for all of you who have cable television that carries The Jewish Channel. A segment of the show is on No Limit Texas Dreidel! Meredith interviewed me at Kosherfest this November and then the team at The Jewish Channel made these great clips demonstrating play of the game. We don't get The Jewish Channel in the ATL, unfortunately, but Time Warner & Optimum carry it in the North East and Verizon FiOS TV offers it in many states -- check if your state has it.

You wanna know how to play No Limit Texas Dreidel? Watch this:



By the way, the correct term is "hole cards" and "hole spins" -- not "hold" -- although it should be "hold," yes? Thank you The Jewish Channel and Modern Jewish Mom Meredith Jacobs.

Making Hanukkah Fun and Meaningful For Adults

Image is from BonAppetit.com

My husband and I invented No Limit Texas Dreidel so that adults (and older children) can enjoy dreidel too. Here are some other ideas to make your Hanukkah party fun and meaningful for your adult friends whether they are Jewish or not.

Have guests bring a symbol of a freedom they are guarding or fighting for. Yes, there is the (silly) story about oil lasting for eight days. But, really, Hanukkah is a celebration of religious freedom. In 167 B.C.E. the Maccabees fought Antiochus who brought Greek idols into the Temple and banned the practice of Judaism. The menorah is the Jewish symbol of this fight for freedom. Ask guests, "What freedom are you guarding or fighting for?" Invite guests to bring an object that represents this freedom. Guests can choose to share the meaning with the group or simply set the item with the others.

Upgrade your holiday menu for an adult palate. Chocolate gelt (coins) has developed a bad reputation as something you don't necessarily want to eat. Serve gourmet chocolate coins, which the most discerning chocolate lovers will appreciate, such as those (personally taste-tested and approved by me!) from Madelaine, Godiva, or See's. Serve sweet potato latkes or Zucchini Latkes with Garlic by Faye Levy, the cooking columnist for the Jerusalem Post, or try serving traditional latkes (like those from Modern Jewish Mom Meredith Jacobs) with gourmet Rosemary and Brown Butter Applesauce from Bon Appetit. The Bon Appetit website has many gourmet latke recipes.

Tzedakah is always appropriate for any Jewish holiday. Tzedakah is translated as "charity," but its root, tzedek, means justice: We give not only to help those in need but to help set things right, as part of the process of creating a just world. Have guests bring a grocery bag of food for your local feed-the-hungry program or a toy for the Toys for Tots program. Or have each guest "buy in" to receive their chocolate gelt for the No Limit Texas Dreidel game and make a group donation to a local charity. The buy-in idea came from a ModernTribe customer, who is doing this for her own Hanukkah party this year.

Reach Out Touch Me: Jewelry Design from Israel Gets Physical

By Ziva Haller Rubenstein of Designist Dream

Shopping is a sensual experience for me in that I like to touch things on view or on sale. More than just look or pull off the rack, actually playing with the fabric or material gives me a better sense of the object - how it will wear, drape, endure, draw attention or compete with other things on my shelves. So maybe now you can understand why seeing these bracelets by Israeli Jewelry Designer Dana Hakim Berkovich behind a glass at the Designed in Israel 08 exhibition was so upsetting for me.



First off, what immediately attracted me was their texture. The woven braids on the cuffs and bracelets seemed so intricate and layered that my fingers literally started walking across them atop the glass just itching to cop a feel. Then, reading the artist's statement, I realized they were made of cardboard - egg crate cardboard to be more specific! That's right, not what you first think of when you hear of textural jewelry or think of coveted bracelets. Berkovich cuts diamond shapes into the cardboard and when rounding them into the bracelet shapes generates a 3D effect - what I thought originally was a woven pattern. Berkovich's overall technique aims to recycle used materials into beautiful accessories and challenges users to rethink the beautiful and the possible in what we casually throw away.



A little ways away in the same glass case, Israeli jewelry designer, Yael Friedman, also got my fingers itching. A delicate pewter-metal blend gold Hanukiyah or Chanukah Menorah presented the neatest little DIY project that just couldn't go wrong. A one-dimensional page of metal provided cut outs of semi-circles - each with laser cut decorations - that can be slotted together to form a fully functioning eight-plus-one candle holder. The details gave some light and delicacy to the metal material and the adornment was reminiscent of jewelry techniques. And the idea of being able to mail someone a flat DIY Menorah in time for the holidays? Opens a whole new world of holiday card options. Now if I could only get my hands on these items...

~Crossposted from Designist Dream~