WEB EXCLUSIVE The Interfaith club gathered during lunch today to light a menorah, play dreidel games, and eat traditional Jewish foods in honor of the second day of Hanukkah.

“I decided to make latkes with sweet potatoes, which turned out to be really good,” Theology teacher Kate McMichael said. “I was excited about the beautiful red colors of the sweet potatoes with my homegrown purple potatoes.”

Hanukkah starts on a different day every year between Nov. and Dec. based on the Gregorian calendar and traces back to when the Jewish people fought against the Greek-Assyrians in the Maccabean Revolt. The holiday is often celebrated with the lighting of the menorah and placing it on the window sill, dreidel games and eating of jelly donuts, chocolate gelt and latkes.

“It is an interesting thing because when you think about the history of antisemitism, that courageous gesture of putting something so clearly Jewish in your window eight nights in a row, is kind of amazing,” McMichael said.

Club leader Lili Levy also shared her holiday traditions. She said that her family has one tree for Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year and that they have a family tradition of eating  Chinese food during the eight-day holiday.

“Hanukkah for us is a lot about coming together as a family,” Levy said. “We eat dinner all together and put our dreidel ornament up on the first night of Hanukkah.”