Celebrating Hanukkah thousands of miles from home
- Published
Hanukkah is Raquel Schonker's favourite Jewish holiday
"We celebrate Hanukkah every year - it's a big part of my family celebrations."
Raquel Schonker, 19, is spending her second Hanukkah away from her family who live in Australia.
Now living in Belfast, she was not able to find traditional Jewish candles in the city but luckily her grandmother sent her a chanukiah and ner mitzvah candles to light during the festival.
"It's my favourite Jewish holiday - it's a family holiday for us and considering the circumstances we have been able to do what we can to get to share it together," she said.
Celebrating Hanukkah this year due to coronavirus restrictions will be different for many Jewish people - for some it means not being able to spend it with their families in person.
Raquel, like many others, is celebrating it with her loved ones virtually.
What is Hanukkah?
Normally Hanukkah or Chanukah (in Hebrew) happens in November or December each year - this year it started on nightfall on 10 December, running until nightfall on 18 December.
Hanukkah means Festival of Lights - it is a week-long celebration and one of the biggest festivals for Jewish people.
Rose Lena, 23, a student at Queen's University, moved to Belfast in September and has been using video calls to share the holiday with her parents who live in Las Vegas.
"This is really funny - my Hanukkah candles are actually birthday candles that I bought at a 24-hour Spar, it was the closest thing I could find," she said.
"They are getting the job done - they have a shorter life than traditional Hanukkah candles.
Rose Lena and her family are thousands of miles apart but marked Hanukkah together online
"For the first night of Hanukkah I did a group Facetime with my parents in Las Vegas and my brother was in Chicago - we had to get creative with the timing because of the different time zones.
"I'm the first Jewish person a lot of my friends here have met."
Rose added: "My friends who I live with here are lighting the menorah with me and I've still able to Facetime my friends back home as well."
The Jewish community in Northern Ireland
Jews first arrived in the northern part of Ireland in the 1860s.
At one point there were as many as 1,500 Jewish people in Northern Ireland but their presence has dwindled.
Michael Black, the chairman of the Belfast Jewish Community, says there are about 60 in Northern Ireland, most of them elderly.
Since the start of the first Covid-19 lockdown in March, Northern Ireland's only synagogue - in north Belfast - has only opened twice.
"For the regular synagogue-goers it's been a difficult time - the synagogue is a place not just for prayer, it's a meeting place, a social gathering," said Mr Black.
"Normally there is a party in our Belfast synagogue but that cannot happen now.
"A number of our congregation aren't going out and... until we get a vaccination, we would be worried about them attending any social gathering."
Rev David Kale held a service for the Jewish community in Northern Ireland using Zoom
As well as a party, there is usually a service in the synagogue at which candles are lit.
Because of the restrictions, Rev David Kale, minister of the Belfast Jewish Community, held a video service on Sunday during which he said prayers and lit the candles.
Mr Black said the beauty of Hanukkah was that people could celebrate it in their own home.
He added: "Hanukkah has been celebrated for thousands of years, for most of that time it's been outside of the Holy Land.
"This year it coincides with Christmas, it's almost quite nice - you've got the two communities, a joint celebration of sorts."
Twenty-one-year-old Olivia Rose set up the Queen's Jewish Society at the university this year, off the back of a Holocaust Memorial Day vigil that was put together in January.
"I set it up because I felt like Jewish students needed a seat at the table when it came to matters that affected us," she said.
"I thought there would be about three of us but altogether there are about fifteen of us and we're still growing."
Olivia and the other members from the society have not been able to meet in person but helped each other through lockdown.
Olivia Rose says the festival has a particular resonance with her this year
"Lockdown has been tough for me over here as I'm sure it has been for most other Jewish students on campus," said Olivia.
"None of us, as far as I'm aware, are actually from the island of Ireland and whilst I'm only from England some other members are more international and come from various countries.
"I was stuck in Belfast over Passover and I've only just managed to get back to England for Chanukah.
"This year is a Chanukah like no other... the story of the festival is one that I think especially resonates with me this year.
"It's about creating light after there has been darkness, which there has been a lot of this year."
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