The Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center welcomes the Island community to a Hanukkah celebration on Friday, Dec. 15.

A crowd gathered for the festive annual party at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center, the sixth night of Hanukkah and the eve of the new month in the Hebrew calendar.

On Friday, Dec. 11, the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center will hold its community Hanukkah party and celebration featuring the Bart Weisman Klezmer Swing Group.

Tradition, music, food and loved ones were celebrated at fourth night of Hanukkah festivities at the Martha's Vineyard Hebrew Center. Ljuba Davis’ fourth grade Hebrew Center class even performed a Hanukkah rap drawing applause and cheers.

Rabbi Caryn Broitman will lead the annual Hanukkah celebration on Friday, Dec. 18, at 5:30 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center.

Dozens of varied hanukkiahs crowded a glass-topped table. All burned bright with eight candles each, flames dancing along with the congregation as they sang and clapped to the songs of Hanukkah.

Bring your menorah and join the community in celebrating the last night of Hanukkah at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven.

Some Jews celebrate Hanukkah and only Hanukkah, and my red-and-green tasseled hat goes off to them. But others of us come from either mixed heritage or mixed messages; we celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah with widely divergent measures of each.

As a child, the closest I ever came to Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup was through a slide of Andy Warhol’s iconic print in an art history class; except for once a year, Hanukkah, which began this week. It’s the key to my great-grandmother’s brisket recipe, and last weekend I found myself elbow deep in it as I made the dish for the first time by myself.

I come from a family where everyone assumes a role in the kitchen. My brother mans the grill, you can usually find me elbow deep in sugar and butter, my father makes a mean Bolognese sauce, and my mother is one of those cooks who can whip up something delicious with whatever is in the fridge.

But there was one Hanukkah a few years ago where no matter what we did, dinner was bound for disaster.