As a quadriplegic, I had developed severe pressure wounds from sitting in my wheelchair and needed surgery. In October 2008, I was admitted into the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, a specialized hospital for individuals with spinal cord injuries. When the orange bulbs no longer worked, I found replacements, but over time, it became increasingly difficult to find the bulbs. I adopted the tradition of my parents: lighting the menorah with candles and using the electric menorah. At one point, a friend bought me a menorah for candles when she was visiting Israel. In 1989, the orange bulb menorah came with me when I moved to Virginia. In its place, they bought a new electric menorah – gorgeous glass with multicolored bulbs. When I left for college, my parents gave me the electric menorah to use in my dorm room, where candles were not allowed. I enjoyed the tradition and the “dueling menorahs.” Although I knew the eight nights of light signified an historical miracle, I never felt that our lighting the menorah was a miracle for me. Amidst the glowing candles and orange bulbs, I received a small gift to open. Each night after we had lit the menorah with candles, my mother would turn on the orange bulbs of the electric menorah, adding one to the number she’d lit the night before. This menorah was plastic – off-white with bright orange bulbs. When I was growing up, we had two kinds of menorahs: One, from Israel, used candles and was given to my father by my grandfather the other was electric and each year sat on the sill of a big window in our kitchen. Miraculously, it burned for eight days and eight nights. Judah and the Maccabees then cleaned the Temple and lit a menorah, an oil-based lamp, expecting the oil to last only one day. Against all odds, the Maccabees achieved victory. The story of Hanukkah, passed from generation to generation, is often referred to as the “Miracle of Lights.” As it is told, Judah leads his men, the Maccabees, in a fight against King Antiochus and his army to preserve Jewish tradition.
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