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Wednesday November 21, 2007

Young adults give holiday celebrations a new spin

by melissa wagenberg lasher
correspondent

When guests arrive at Deborah Pollack’s Chanukah party, the smell of latkes frying in vegetable oil will greet them at the door, stirring childhood memories of dreidel games and foil-wrapped chocolate gelt.

But once inside, it will be clear that this is no kids’ party: Mingling to an eclectic iPod mix — from Etta James to Justin Timberlake — guests will sip pomegranate cocktails and snack on brisket sliders, Pollack’s playful take on her family’s traditional recipe.

“When I’m doing the party it’s definitely a familial connection that I crave,” said Pollack, 32. “The dishes on the menu represent the people in my family, but I create variations based on the style of the party.”

Young adults are adding a sophisticated twist to the tradition of opening one’s home to family and friends during the festival of lights. As a result, Chanukah parties, once the domain of children and dreidel matches, are resurfacing with some serious swank.

Warren and Lindsay Braunig of San Francisco host Jewish holidays throughout the year; last year’s Chanukah dinner was so successful that they hope to make it an annual event.

They merge their favorite Jewish traditions with their hip entertaining style. “The parties definitely don’t feel like family Chanukah parties or holiday-type dinners,” said Warren. “We’re drinking good wine. If there’s music playing, it’s going to be Tom Waits, not ‘Oh, Hanukkah.’ We’re a bunch of 20- and 30-somethings getting together and taking pieces of the Jewish traditions that are most valuable to us and throwing them together with other stuff we like.”

Keeping with the Bay Area’s open spirit, young hosts also relish the opportunity to introduce their non-Jewish friends to Chanukah rituals — most notably, offering the uninitiated their first-ever taste of latkes.

Natalie Kaniel, 34, hosts an annual Chanukah party, a tradition that started when law school finals kept her from the family celebration. “My mom came up with her friends and they made a big meal for me and my friends,” said Kaniel, who was attending U.C. Berkeley’s Boalt Hall at the time. “Later, when I moved into the city, my non-Jewish friends kept asking, ‘Are we going to have latkes this year?’”

This year, Kaniel will co-host with her sister, Yael, 30, accenting traditional family recipes — Dad’s latkes, Mom’s donuts — with mulled wine and a full bar. “The menu is rooted in the traditions I grew up with,” said Kaniel. “But we definitely didn’t have cocktails growing up!”

For the Bay Area’s many transplants, Chanukah soirees recreate a sense of Jewish community and offer the familial warmth we all tend to crave around the holidays. The Braunigs grew up in Louisiana, “and most of our friends’ families aren’t out here either,” said Warren, who moved to the Bay Area about a year ago. “We started hosting as a way to create a little bit of community in a place where many of us are new to the area or we don’t have a pre-existing community.”

For Naomi Warshawsky, 31, a native of Minnesota, gathering friends together is a key to maintaining her connection to Judaism.

“Part of being in my 30s is I don’t have a formalized synagogue membership, so I go to a few different ones,“ she said. “I get the most out of my Jewish identity by having people over for holidays. I find there’s nothing quite like putting together a meal and having people come over for it.”

For others, hosting a Chanukah-themed dinner party is a portal to re-establishing a lost connection to Judaism. That’s the case for Nick Kindrick, 30, who rediscovered his Jewish roots five years ago and started inviting friends for both Passover and Chanukah celebrations. The annual fried chicken and latke dinner party he throws with his partner honors both his Jewish childhood and his Southern upbringing. “I learned how to make fried chicken from my mother and great-aunt,” he said.

While most private celebrations center around food — Jews being Jews — this year local young adult organizations are reinventing Chanukah’s betting tradition.

As one of its eight Chanukah events, the Hub at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco will host “Gambling for Gelt,” a night of tournament-style Texas Hold’em.

“We thought it would be a young-adult way of approaching the gambling aspect of the holiday,” said Dena Stern, the Hub’s program director. Players can expect a $20 buy-in, $10 re-buys, and drink specials at the bar. The tournament takes place 7 p.m. Dec. 5 at the G Bar, 488 Presidio Ave.

Hosts looking to embrace the gaming theme at home can check out “No Limit Texas Dreidel” ($18 for a set at www.moderntribe.com), a poker-dreidel hybrid in which players bet, raise and bluff.

At 6:30 p.m. Dec. 6, the Young Adult Community of Congregation Emanu-El will host a Chanukah Games Night at the JCCSF’s Club 18, 3200 California St. It’s BYOBG (bring your own board games), The event costs $5 and includes latkes, candle lighting and pizza.

And just like that, the dreidel is all grown up, and cocktail-party ready.

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