A Burning Desire to Get Outta Town
These destinations offer motivated travelers the opportunity
to sightsee and celebrate Chanukah at the same time.

BY HILARY DANAILOVA
The Breitscheidplatz in Berlin is a destination for
locals and tourists alike during the holiday season.

t’s Chanukah again — and if that conjures uninspiring images
of kitchen-table dreidel games and latkes at the stove, maybe
it’s time to consider a twist: Chanukah out of town.

Unlike Passover and the High Holidays, Chanukah has no es-
tablished getaway tradition. But it does have a party tradition, and
so do a handful of cities where the Jewish communities celebrate
with distinctive local flavor. This is also the ideal year to travel, since
Chanukah falls in early December — neatly between the peak pe-
riods of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

So whether you have time for a day trip or the means for a trans-
Atlantic jaunt, here are four destinations that guarantee a memorable
Festival of Lights.

I New York: The World’s Largest Menorah,
and a Jewish Cooking Renaissance
Of course New York City hosts the world’s largest menorah. This
is a town that revels in its own superlatives, and the massive hanukki-
ah that illuminates Grand Army Plaza in Manhattan befits the world’s
16 NOVEMBER 19, 2015
largest urban Jewish community. Each night of Chanukah, crowds
gather in front of the Plaza Hotel to watch the lights flicker on atop
a 32-foot-high, 4,000-pound steel menorah.

But the real reason to celebrate in New York this year is gus-
tatory. From bagels to appetizing, the past few years have seen
a renaissance of Jewish cooking in all its diversity — from the
traditional lox purveyors that made the Lower East Side famous
to trendy new boîtes like Mile End Deli. The latter, for those
who don’t follow the New York food world, fuses Montréal-style
Jewish fare with the Brooklyn passion for all things local and
artisanal, and the result is a menu that includes not only matzah
ball soup, but also roasted sunchoke salad, poutine, and Stump-
town coffee. The Mile End team recently added a Manhattan
location and also launched Black Seed Bagels, which introduced
controversial (but tasty) wood-fired bagels to a city still mourn-
ing the closing of H&H.

WINTER HOLIDAY GUIDE
See Get Outta Town, Page 18
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM