Happy Hanukkah

It's Hanukkah and I thought I'd show a cool artifact from our collection.

This compact and very portable Hanukkah lamp, whose eight oil reservoirs can be concealed within its sofa-shaped case when not in use, has survived a lot. It dates back to the early 1700s, from a Sephardic Jewish family. They lived on the island of Curacao in the Caribbean. Many islands in the Caribbean during this time were home to Jews who were involved in the shipping trade.

Curacao, like New Amsterdam where the first Jews settled in North America in 1654, was a Dutch colony and therefore undoubtedly friendlier to Jews than other places, given the greater religious tolerance practiced by the Dutch at home and abroad. The lamp’s portable and inconspicuous design speaks to the itinerant nature of the Jewish people and also perhaps to the tradition of practicing Judaism in secrecy, especially after the Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal in 1492 and then scattered.

I'm scattering out of here to my brother's for a Hanukkah celebration at his house.

Hope your holiday is nice.