1st Night of Chanukah at DEC

Chanukah is one of those turning points of the year. Since Sukkos the students have been gradually picking up the learning. It's time to celebrate our accomplishments during Chanukah, and the light of Torah She'Bal Peh.

Sunday night, the first night of Chanukah, the Derech Etz Chaim mesibah was at R' Binyamin Wolff's house at 6:30 PM.

We had some suprise guests, like alumni Ari Galster, whose new yeshiva apparantly doesn't throw an awesome Chanukah party like DEC.

We also had R' Schwartzman, grandson of R' Aharon Kotler, who happens to be R' Wolff's upstairs neighbor, give us a shiur on "Why do we celebrate Chanukah?"

There is nothing better to work up an appetite like a shiur from R' Schwartzman!

After some lasagna, quiche and latkes, R' Betzalel Gersten gave a d'var Torah about the need to "fill our flasks with more oil" than our ancestors may have in order to "last the long, cold, windy night". Madrich and alumni Yaakov Rose brought along his guitar and filled the night with Chanukah songs.

R' Wolff finished off with a d'var Torah and plea to the students to identify all the "bags of gold" around them and gather them up while they still can.

R' Moshe Eliyahu, who also lives in the neighborhood, stopped by to visit and to endulge his "sweet tooth" with a sufganiah.