Assimilated Hanu-Cocktails

A significant part of the Hanukkah story is that the Maccabees didn’t like that many of their fellow Jews had embraced Greek culture, otherwise known as Hellenism. The early Rabbis, however, deemphasized the role of the Maccabees for many reasons, including that the early Rabbis were highly influenced by Greek ideas and didn’t fear it in the same way that the Maccabees did. Instead, the Rabbis discovered or invented the legend of one day’s worth of oil that lasted for eight days and made that the basis for the idea of the miracle of Hanukkah. In our time, many Jews come from or have created families that include non-Jews, and most of us warmly embrace the cultures of the countries in which we live. We are trying to build on the reframing of Hanukkah that the early Rabbis did and doubling down on their opposition to the Maccabees’ ideology. So, this year, after you light the menorah, perhaps you can calm your nerves by sitting and watching the candles burn down by sipping one of eight special cocktails that celebrate the interconnections between Jews and world cultures.

Each drink combines a stereotypically Jewish ingredient with an ingredient associated with one of the cultures in which Jews have lived.

We hope you enjoy these delicious drinks. Of course, if you are missing ingredients we encourage you to invent your own assimilated cocktails or modify these to be alcohol-free!