It had been a year since I had
moved to Korea to teach English in a school. I had acclimated quickly and learned the language pretty well. It was harder for me, being a religious Jew, to find food to eat that was acceptable, but the Chabad house down the road was helpful in pointing me the right way.
It was getting late and I was heading to my apartment. As I was walking, I bumped into someone and fell down, my bag falling and spilling. "I'm so sorry!" the man who knocked me down said. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I answered in English before switching back to Korean. "Kwaenchana."
"Are you more comfortable speaking English?" he asked in English.
I nodded. "I moved here a year ago but I'm pretty good with Korean." "I'm Mark," he introduced himself.
"Shoshana."
"It's nice to meet you."
"Yeah. You too."
We headed our separate ways and I got to my apartment realizing that I had left my phone. I ran back to see Mark holding it looking around.
"You left it," he said. "I waited for you to come back."
"Thank you," I said. "I don't know what I would have done if I had lost it." I asked him to come to my apartment so I could properly thank him. He declined but we exchanged numbers so that we could keep in contact.
After a few months, the two of us had gotten closer. Mark had told me he was a K-pop singer in two groups, one called NCT and one called SuperM. I checked out their music and it was pretty catchy. We both learned a lot about each other and were good friends.
It was almost Hanukah and I didn't have candles. I couldn't find any in my supermarket or the convenience store near me. I completely forgot to ask the Chabad house if they had any instead. I texted Mark and asked him if he knew where to find a specific type of candle. He told me he would look for it.
Two days later, he called me. "I found them," he said. "How many do you need?"
"Two boxes," I told him. I sent him my address and, at around ten at night, there was a knock on the door. I opened the door expecting Mark only to see someone else. "Something came up and Mark wasn't able to make it. He sent me Instead. I'm Ten." "Thank you," I said. "I really needed these. Do you want to come in?"
He came in and sat on the couch as I set up my menorah in the window facing the street. I put in the first candle and the Shamash, said the blessings, and lit them.
"What language was that?" Ten asked. "I've never heard it before."
"It's Hebrew. It's the blessing for lighting the Hanukah candles. I explained to him about Hanukah and told him a bit of the story. Then I had an idea. "I'm assuming you're part of the same group as Mark, correct?"
"Yes. Both of them actually."
"Why don't you bring everyone over in three nights and we'll have a Hanukkah party?"
He looked around the apartment. "I'll bring SuperM. NCT won't fit in your apartment." We exchanged numbers to plan together a way to surprise them and then he left.
Three nights later I had the table set with a blue tablecloth that had little dreidels. menorahs, and stars of David along the rim. On the table were sufganiyot (jelly donuts), latkas (potato pancakes), and some dreidels (spinning top) and gelt (chocolate coins).
The candles were in the menorah on the window sill waiting to be lit. Since it was the fourth night, there were four candles and a shamash.
Soon, there was a knock at the door and seven men came into the apartment. One by one they Introduced themselves and then, since it wasn't yet nightfall. I started telling them the story of Hanukkah. How the Greeks wanted us to assimilate but we stayed strong. How they destroyed the holy Temple and all the oil to light the menorah. How only one jar was found Intact with enough oil to light the menorah for one day. How the oil burned for eight days until new oll could be made. Then it was time to light the menorah. I said the blessings and translated them. Then we sat at the table.
I told them why we eat sufganiyot and latkas foods fried in oil. To commemorate the miracle of the oil in the holy temple. Then I explained the dreidle game.
The dreidle is a top with four sides and a letter on each side. The letters are נ (nuon), ג (gimmel), ה (hey), and ש(shin). Nuon stands for neis which means miracle, gimmel stands for gadol which means great, hey stands for haya which means was or happened, and shin stands for shum which means there. Put together, a great miracle happened there. In the game, the letters stand for things too. Nuon means you get nothing, gimmel means you take all from the middle, hey means you take half, and shin means you put one in. The winner is the one who ends up with all the coins.
We played for an hour and then I sang some traditional Hanukkah songs and we all enjoyed ourselves. As they were leaving Baekhyun turned to me. "What other Jewish holidays do you have that we don't know about?" he asked.
"Don't worry," I told him. "I'll introduce them all to you."
I smiled as they left. I had enjoyed myself and it was nice sharing my holidays with them. I couldn't wait for Tu B'Shvat, the next holiday.
A/N Happy Hanukkah to everyone who celebrates (me)
