better

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ily

e ig h t n ig h t s

o f l ig h t

A Montreal family turns Hanukkah into an

Opportunity tO give back

A native of Queens, New York, Gil Troy

moved to Montreal, Quebec, in

1990

to begin teaching history at world-renowned

McGill University. He and his wife, Linda, went on to have four children in the romantic,

old-world charm of the predominantly French-speaking city.

Early in their childrearing, the Troys decided that they would celebrate Hanukkah

differently. The eight-day Jewish holiday falls sometime between late November and

late December, depending on how the Hebrew and Gregorian calendar overlap in any

given year. Hanukkah is also known as the Festival of Lights, signified by the nine-candle

menorah, one of which is used to light the others, one at a time, each successive night

of the holiday.

As any family who observes it would tell you, Hanukkah isn’t a Jewish Christmas.

But, says Gil, since the two take place in the same time period, they can’t help but

become intertwined in certain ways.

“One of the most unfortunate ways is that both have become festivals of

overconsumption,” he says. On each of the eight nights of Hanukkah, it has become

commonplace to exchange what once were small gifts. Those gifts, Gil says, have

become more and more lavish in recent times, often overshadowingthe meaning of

Hanukkah itself, which is to celebratethe rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem

that happened

2,200

years ago.

234

DECEMBER 2009 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS

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