December 17 window – Draidle/Holiday TV guest: Artist and Teacher, Barry Spacks

Draidle is a game played every year on Hanukah. Young and old gather around in a circle spinning a four sided top, hoping it will land on the side baring the Hebrew letter Gimel. The draidle has an inspirational story where a beautiful lesson can be learned.

During the Greek era the Jews were persecuted and the learning of Torah was forbidden. The Jews were penalized by death if this decree was broken. But that wouldn’t stop the Jews from doing what they loved. So they devised a plan in which the Jews would trick the Greeks into thinking they were playing draidle, but in reality they were actually learning Torah. The draidle was an important key which helped conserve the Torah for later generations to come.

Hanukah, an inspirational holiday with miracles and magical stories is often overlooked as an insignificant one. Many people don’t realize that Hanukah is enriched with powerful messages, like the draidle. The draidle, as well as other things were tools in which the Jews used to keep serving God. This is what helped the Torah survive such a difficult era. We should learn and see the importance of Torah from this, and just like the draidle, help preserve Torah for the next generations to come no matter what the situation is.

We were honored to have Barry Spacks on Holiday TV as a guest and sharing some of his favorite Holiday Moments. Here is some more information about Barry Spacks:

Barry Spacks is the first Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara, Californa.
Nine poetry collections (most extensive: SPACKS STREET: NEW & SELECTED POEMS, from Johns Hopkins, 1982, winner of The Commonwealth Club of California’s Poetry Medal; most recent: REGARDING WOMEN, WordTech Communications, winner of the Cherry Grove Collections Prize, and THE HOPE OF THE AIR, Michigan State University Press, both 2004).

N.E.A librettist grantee; many poetry readings; poems in 18 anthologies and a multitude of journals, print and cyber; two novels, stories, essays, reviews.
For poems and novels: St. Botolph’s Arts Award, Boston.

Singer-songwriter, actor; Literature professor, M.I.T. (1960-1981); persistently Visiting Professor, U.C. Santa Barbara (Distinguished Professor in Humanities & Fine Arts, 1991). Senior Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhism) student of H.E. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche.

Two CDs , A Private Reading, from WC Studios, contains 42 poems (plus chat) from 50 years of work and Selected Poems from Regarding Women.

Here are some poems from Barry Spacks:
http://barryspacks.blogspot.com/
New art work from Barry Spacks:
http://www.barryspacks.net