8 Crazy Lights!
Chanukah Celebration at UAlbany 5767/2006
Sunday, Finals Week, Dec 17th, 5pm
at the Campus Center Commons (outside Dreidels)

• Grand Menorah Lighting
  It's become a tradition for a Jewish UAlbany faculty member to kindle the large Menorah.
  This year we are honored to have Dr. Sue Faerman, Dean of Undergraduate Studies at the University at Albany lighting the Menorah.
• Latke-Fest '06 Latke Eating Contest
  play-by-lay with sportscasters Mike Landsman and Dan Small
  to enter as a contestant (limited number available) email Justin Hirsch, L'chaim President
• The Great Latke Condiment Debate
  Applesauce VS. Sour Cream? Anyone for Ketchup, Mustard?
• Dunk-A-Doughnut
  Dip a doughnut hole into toppings and icings of your choice
• Free Tin Menorahs & Colored Chanukah Candles
  Menorahs and Candles will be available at no charge (while supplies last) at 8 Crazy Lights
  or from Shabbos House 438-4227 / email Shabbos House
•  "8 Crazy Lights" (logo above) T-shirts for sale
  Limited number available at $5 each. Latke-Fest contestants get a free shirt.

This Chanukah event co-sponsored by L'CHAIM (SA funded), Shabbos House Jewish Student Center, UAlbany Hillel and the Ufaratzta Fund for Chabad on Campus. 

Note about “8 CRAZY Lights”:

Adam Sandler aside, there’s a powerful message in “8 Crazy Lights.” In Basi L’Gani, a famous Chassidic discourse, the Lubavitcher Rebbe explains (we’re paraphrasing) that there’s craziness beneath intellect and there’s craziness above and beyond intellect. Crazy below the rational line is stupid, silly and insane. But crazy above the rational line is about selfless dedication, absolute devotion, which transcends any explanation.

The Chanukah miracle happened because some Jews refused to be bound by what made sense. They were crazy to defy the odds and take on the Greeks. But that craziness was not insanity. It came from a deeper place, it was born of an unwavering dedication that is so deep and so intense it is not rational.

Kabbalistically, seven represents the cycle of nature, while eight represents breaking through the natural and reaching the supernatural. Thus, the number eight is central to the themes of Chanukah, both to the Maccabean dedication and to its miracles.

See: Chanukah Holiday Packets in all Quad Dining Halls

Click here for downloadable PDF of Card inside Packet
including humorous Dreidel Operating Manual by Rabbi Israel Rubin

See Chanukah Index for other years of Chanukah Celebrations at the University at Albany