Heretical Hanukkah Party
In a preemptive move, one night before the real Festival of Lights begins, Killing the Buddha is trying its hand at Hanukkah—which itself, of course, is a preemptive Jewish conspiracy against Christmas. The event, at Gallery Bar in Lower Manhattan on December 10th, will celebrate Peter Manseau’s trifecta win of recent Jewish book awards—the National Jewish Book Award, the ALA Medal for Jewish Literature, and the Ribalow Prize for Jewish Fiction—for his novel Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter, certainly the only book by the son of a Catholic priest and nun so honored.
The evening will include a reading by Mr. Manseau, introduced by his Killing the Buddha co-founder Jeff Sharlet. Those who come can expect to enjoy more Buddha-killing surprises, a well-stocked bar, as well as the spectacle of a bunch of half-Jews trying to remember the prayers for lighting the menorah. The novelist George Dawes Green has selected the event as a featured pick in Time Out New York.
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
7 pm – 9:30 pm
Gallery Bar, 120 Orchard Street, New York, NY
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November 29th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
December 8th is feast of the Immaculate Conception, one of those doctrines that Protestants claim is a heresy. I, for one, would love to claim that I am without sin and not held responsible for anything I do on that evening.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
The ideal Hannukkah party requires a large amount of booze and a dreidel, a small four-sided spinning top to be twirled on the bar. Onlookers bet their money on which side will be face-up when the dreidel stops spinning. Each spin of the dreidel should be preceded by the drinking of a shot; after each round a new person takes over the dreidel but must first speak one or more words in Yiddish. Anyone who doesn’t know Yiddish must remove an article of clothing. Eventually, all the Goyim are naked and drunk!
November 30th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Great point. Everybody, bring your dreidels!
November 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
A-hem Nathan you’re not exactly being kosher towards those of us who are dreidel-less.
In addition to the drinking games, no Heretical Hanukkah party could be complete without some ceremonial eating of pork. Passing around a bottle of bacon bits doesn’t count cause that’s not real meat. But perhaps serving up some pork rinds?
I have Kinky Friedman’s “They aren’t making Jews like Jesus anymore” song if you’d like it though it does say the N word so it might be deemed too offensive even for this crowd.
December 6th, 2009 at 5:24 am
That’s “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore.” It has other offensives terms as well, containing an insult word or phrase for just about everyone. One thing that can be said for Kinky: he’s an equal-opportunity offender.
December 6th, 2009 at 11:37 am
I stand corrected – one should never try to clean up Kinky’s grammar.
December 8th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Here are two CBS Cares PSA’s that seem appropriate for the occasion … but I suspect most of the ladies will leave.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkuI4oU250s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4jbmAJ44Po