Hanukkah Countdown: The New Yorker Catches Hanukkah Fever With 2 Days to Go

What do the Beatles, the Prophet Elijah, Velvel the Tailor, Kangaroo Moses, and a candle named Blue have in common?  They all make brief appearances in a collection of (very) short Hanukkah stories by Yoni Brenner in the current issue of The New Yorker.  A bit strange, a bit eclectic, but very funny.  So we're linking to them in the spirit of Hanukkah humor.  Laugh a little.  Or a lot.

   Here's one to get you started:

Latkeland

In the Book of the Redemption (c. 1263), the celebrated medieval Jewish philosopher Nahmanides describes a distant land where everything—the houses, the roads, even the synagogue—is made from potato latkes. And running through this savory land are two broad rivers, one flowing with applesauce and the other with sour cream.  And on Hanukkah the Jews of Latkeland gather at the confluence of the two rivers, so they can top their latkes with a dollop of each.  Incidentally, it was around this time that Nahmanides was doing a lot of drugs.

 (A tip of the kippah - and an extra Chanukah present - to Esther Kustanowitz for bringing this to our attention.)