Hanukkah Highlights Activity Book

a hanukkah menorah with all nine candles lit

People, stories, and food are at the core of many Jewish holidays. These components highlight our diverse cultures, traditions, and celebrations around the globe. Over the past year, the URJ launched the series "Our Story, Your Table," which encourages families to gather around their table to share, listen, and learn together. By embracing our united story and diverse settings, we live our Judaism.

Starting with Passover and the High Holidays, we created downloadable activity books and events for individuals and families to enjoy. We aim to showcase the rich tapestry of Jewish identities that exists and continue to think of ways to inspire people to connect with Jewish holidays. The following resources will be soon available for individuals, families, and congregations:

For individuals and families:

With Hanukkah around the corner, we are excited to soon share our next "Our Story, Your Table" downloadable activity book. In collaboration with Highlights Magazine, we developed a kids' activity book for all ages, featuring Hanukkah-themed jokes, activities, games, and a Highlights favorite, the "Seek and Find" puzzle. This digital download will be available the last week of November.

For congregations:

As congregations prepare to celebrate Hanukkah as a community, we understand that it can be overwhelming and exhausting to design and implement new programming. In connection with the kids' activity book developed with Highlights Magazine, our team created a congregational Hanukkah activity guide with programming ideas. The guide will be available after the last week of November. Included are detailed program outlines for a Hanukkah creativity table and a congregational "Seek and Find." Program outlines include background for implementation and marketing language to add to your emails, social media, and calendar events. The programs are designed to make it easier to lead, affordable for any congregation, and flexible to allow you to carry out the programming ideas in a way that feels right for your congregation and fits your community's needs.

To receive these resources, please fill out this registration form for early access to the downloadable Hanukkah activity guides upon their release.

About the Author

Julie Lambert, RJE

Julie Lambert, RJE (MAJE/MAJNM) (she/her) is the Director of Strategic Operations and Leadership for the Congregational Engagement and Leadership Experience team. Julie facilitates collaboration in conjunction with other URJ teams to ensure the successful implementation and integration of strategic initiatives across the organization and aligned with URJ annual targets for measuring impact She serves as a part of the innovation strategy team, where she is using her expertise in professional learning design and facilitation to increase the intentionality, efficiency, and accountability of the of the URJ accelerator network. In addition, Julie is an adjunct professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in the School of Education teaching professional learning to current masters of education and clergy education students.

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