Jewish Museum Opens The Hanukkah Market

Sixteen unusual huts, purpose designed for the market, can be found there enticing visitors with their wares ranging from Judaica through diverse culinary specialties to art and kitsch in the Shlock Shop. We warmly invite you to attend the event with a colorful program for great and small.

The design for the huts stems from the architecture firm "KAPOK: Claire Karsenty, Robert Slinger," founded by former employees of the architect Daniel Libeskind. The Hanukkah stalls’ design was inspired by eastern European "Schtetl" and above all the architecture of the Glass Courtyard. The architects picked up on Daniel Libeskind’s typical element of the acute angle and created huts with walls at a slant and skewed corners. The four differently-shaped walls of the booths are like the four sides of a dreidel, the spinning top game that is traditionally played at Hanukkah. Their unconventional shape give the market its own distinctive flair.

Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of the lights, remembers the reopening of the temple in Jerusalem in the year 165 B.C. and is celebrated this year from 5 to 12 December. A stroll around the Hanukkah Market in the Glass Courtyard with its colorful wares, wonderful smells and even better tastes is a true feast for the senses. Visitors can soak up a potpourri of things to see and learn surrounding the Jewish tradition: traditional and unusual Judaica such as Hanukkah lamps with Walt Disney decoration and a great selection of kippots, colorful kiddush cups, countless children’s articles and great gift ideas. Culinary specialties such as latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiots (donuts), mulled and kosher wine round off the Market experience. Culinary delicacies imported from Israel are also on sale.

The Hanukkah Market is held for the second time this year and follows on from the "Chrismukkah" Market held in 2005 as part of the program surrounding the special exhibition "Chrismukkah. Stories of Christmas and Hanukkah." Not just a stroll around the festive market, but also tours and the marionette show enhance visitors’ knowledge of the festival’s historical background and rituals. -- www.juedisches-museum-berlin.de