First candle

[Richard Armitage has stated repeatedly, the last time on December 23, 2009, that in lieu of a present at the holidays, he would prefer that you consider the needs of those less fortunate than him. All of the gifts I am giving him in this series of posts are notional. But in honor of the season, readers may wish to consider a donation in his honor to a group on his list of approved charities, which include the Salvation Army, an organization with outposts in many parts of the world outside of the UK.]

Happy Chanukkah, everyone! This is how the menorah looks on the first night. I stole this picture because this is exactly the style of menorah that I own; I got it eighteen years ago as my present on the first night from my then-boyfriend, who also taught me the prayers and rituals (for whatever reason, though I’d been a Jew for several years at that point, I hadn’t yet celebrated Chanukkah — it’s not a very important holiday in Judaism, and I went to a Presbyterian-affiliated college).

I’m not that great a singer, but I thought you might be amused by hearing me sing the big Chanukkah song, “Rock of Ages.” Below I sing the first verse in Hebrew and then in English. This was a kind of game I was playing awhile back when I was learning to use the iMovie software on my computer, so unfortunately you don’t get a neato graphic, but instead, the bank of bookshelves behind my desk in my office. Keep in mind in case you recognize titles that I am professionally employed to research and teach the history of Christianity. I keep the Judaica mostly at home. If you look closely you can see my copy of the Norton North & South and also Moving On.

German readers, you’ll recognize the tune of this ditty as very similar to “Nun freut Euch lieben Christen gmein.” That’s because this melody was a popular sixteenth-century folk tune. Jews used it for “Ma’oz tsur”; “Nun freut Euch liebe Christen gmein” (English: “Dear Christians One and All Rejoice”) is a contrafactum on the same melody — Luther, the author of that hymn, did it on purpose so people would learn his song faster. Why should the Devil have all the good tunes?

If you want to hear someone sing it who can really sing, here’s a nice link.

Anyway, eight days of this holiday, so I won’t shoot all my ammo tonight, but rather impart little pieces of information and rumination as I go on. Of course, in the United States, where it has to compete with Christmas, Chanukkah is the holiday for presents, sometimes one on every night of the holiday. What would I give Mr. Armitage on the first night? Well, I would have given him a coupon for the role of his choice in the coming year. However, I figure Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit is a pretty serious “role of his choice,” and he’ll be busy now for quite some time. So since he said recently that he’d never buy champagne for himself, I decided instead that for the first night I’d like to give him some champagne to celebrate getting through the very strenuous year (Clarissa, Spooks, Strike Back, Captain America, all the audiobooks, and all the voiceovers) and then getting cast in such a dream role.

Personally, I’ve always liked Piper-Heidsieck — it’s not one of the ones you always see in the stores in the U.S., like Veuve Cliquot, Moët et Chandon, or Taittinger, but it’s popular in Germany, and I have bought quite a few bottles of it over the years to celebrate important events, such as important academic milestones of friends. It’s reliable and it has a quality I really like in both sparkling and other wines, namely an extremely mineral undertone that makes it taste bone dry.

So that’s what I’m getting him. Here’s to you, Mr. Armitage. Congratulations on all your success this year: cheers!

On the first night of any Jewish holiday that’s not a fast we also say a prayer thanking G-d for granting us life, sustaining us, and allowing us to make it this far: Schehecheyanu. It seems especially appropriate to me this year, and given everything that’s happened in his professional life, perhaps it would seem that way to Mr. Armitage, too.

Happy Chanukkah, Armitage fans!

~ by Servetus on December 2, 2010.