Larry the K's Lineup

  The second night of Hanukkah. The third of eight candles lit during Hanukkah will be illuminated at sundown today (Saturday, Dec. 9). In recognition of that, I offer my annual “Chanukah Charlie” quiz on the holiday. The answers are listed at the end of this column: The link to the column, as it it appears on the website of The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA, where it was published in the Dec. 9-10 Weekend edition of the newspaper, follows: https://www.thesunchronicle.com/opinion/columns/larry-kessler-chanukah-charlie-wishes-you-a-happy-hanukkah/article_89c2a33f-3705-53f9-a95b-b512b3451232.html ******** As he’s agreed to do for me over the last two-plus decades, Chanukah Charlie offers his annual multiple-choice quiz on the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights, which started with the first candle being lit on Thursday, Dec. 7, ahead of the first day on Friday, Dec. 8, because all Jewish holidays start at sunset. The holiday will come to a close on Friday, Dec. 15 after the ei...

  Gifts donated during the 2023 Leftover Turkey Trot. This column, published in the Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, edition of The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA, on the 41st annual Christmas Is For Kids gift drive, calls attention to the volunteers who spend a good chunk of their holiday season giving their time to make sure that about 1,000 needy children and teenagers --- many living in shelters or in difficult situations --- will receive presents, including badly-needed clothes, on Christmas Day. I’ve been writing about the drive for more than 30 years, and have been volunteering since 2017, and the drive is truly a godsend to hundreds of families in the greater Attleboro area. The drive has been a model of consistent gift-giving over the last four decades, and I salute all of the volunteers, lovingly referred to as “elves,” who work countless hours to make Christmas a reality for so many. The link to the column, as it appears on the newspaper’s website is: https://www.thesunchron...

  This column on the unprecedented levels of antisemitism, published in the Dec. 6, 2023, edition of The Sun Chronicle, throws no punches, but it's something that needs to be said. Antisemitism has not only spiraled out of control in this country and the world, as I say in the column, but it’s the worst that I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. With Hanukkah starting tonight (Thursday, Dec. 7) with the lighting of the first of eight candles, I’m posting the column today. The link to the column, as it appears on the newspaper’s website, follows: https://www.thesunchronicle.com/opinion/columns/larry-kessler-hate-at-hanukkah/article_e2d653d2-12fd-5958-b634-8675fdf1cc59.html ********* “I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? … If you prick us do we n...

  The author's menorah is lit up on the final night of Hanukkah in December of 2022. With Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights, starting on Thursday night, Dec. 7, 2023, when the first candle is lit, it’s shaping up to be a very bleak --- and dark --- holiday due to the Israel-Hamas war and the avalanche of hatred that has followed it. Antisemitism has been especially virulent and nearly out of control since Hamas’ brutal terrorist invasion of Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel’s overwhelming response in Gaza that has killed thousands, including far too many civilians. (The only exception to the carnage in the Middle East has been the recent truce during which about 100 of the more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas were released.) But with antisemitism out of control --- millions in the United States and millions more worldwide have blamed the heinous events of Oct. 7 on Israel and all Jews --- it’s shaping up to be a joyless Hanukkah. To make matters worse, antisemitism has ...