Chanukah is a holiday famous for JGG (Judaica Gifts Giving). Since it’s the Festival of Lights, a great way to add light is to give gifts of lovely handmade gold jewelry that reflect the lights of the Chanukah candles.
Just as there are many different types of Judaica gifts – washing
cups, Mezuzot, Havdala sets, Kiddush cups etc. – there are many
different kinds of donuts to choose from: There is the traditional
strawberry jelly (still our personal favorite – yum!), dark chocolate,
white chocolate, coffee cream, butterscotch, French vanilla, coconut,
with sprinkles, and even filled with the famous Middle Eastern Chalva.
You cannot believe the delicious smell of donuts that has
been coming into the store for the past eight days. Actually, it’s been
more than eight days because Sufganiyyot (Hebrew for Chanukah Jelly
donuts) season unofficially started the day after the High Holiday
season ended, which means: about 7 weeks ago. As the famous saying goes:
“The early bird catches the… donut”.
Chanukah is a holiday
famous for JGG (Judaica Gifts Giving). Since it’s the Festival of
Lights, a great way to add light is to give gifts of lovely handmade
gold jewelry that reflect the lights of the Chanukah candles. We’ve had
numerous customers who’ve come into the store shopping for Judaica gifts with Jelly donut in hand (“Don’t worry, I won’t get the jewelry sticky…”)
You
might say that donuts on Chanukah in Israel are a kind of craze. Most
people don’t eat them during the year at all. It’s a Chanukah special.
Some people love to build up the anticipation and will refuse to eat a
donut before the first Chanukah candle is lit. It’s like buying Judaica gifts in honor of a birthday or anniversary, but leaving them wrapped until the actual day arrives.
Looking
at the picture attached here you may be asking yourself, “What about
the hole in the middle?”. Well, this may come as a surprise to some of
you, but jelly donuts – well, actually donuts in general – here in
Israel usually don’t have a hole in the middle.
No hole? No hole!
Our donuts are round and puffy, and filled with the flavors we
wrote about above, not topped with them. Our donuts are topped with
icing sugar so most of the time we can’t tell what the filling is
because all the donuts look the same on the outside. Ah, but it’s what’s
on the inside that counts!
