hanukkahLDN 2009 was a great success, thanks to everyone who attended.

ALL proceeds benefit the JHAfrica Organisation.

Bought to you by @ezrabutler, @cr, @oderau and GodisaGeek.com

The Jews have a gambling tradition when it comes to Hanukkah. As the tradition relates, when the Greek soldiers came into the study hall, the students would start spinning tops (Dreidles in Yiddish) and betting on them to give the impression that they were not studying forbidden Jewish texts.

From 7-9 PM we will hosting a charity Poker tourney. The entrance to the tourney will cost  1250 chips to join. The top two finishers with the most chips will win a prize. (There will be re-buys available, through Twitter.)

Concurrently, we will be running Blackjack and Roulette tables using hanukkahLDN chips. 

All chips won during the gambling portion will be considered legal tender for partaking in our Auction.

Jewish Hearts for Africa is a New York based charity [501(3)c] that purchases Solar, Water and Clean technologies from cutting-edge Israeli companies and donates them to African villages that do not have any electricity or running water.

Their projects include providing electricity for clinics, which enable the clinics to provide vaccinations and medical care, as they are actually able to refrigerate the medications. JHAfrica also installs solar-powered pumps to drill for clean water located beneath the ground.

hanukkahLDN has decided to raise money to bring electricity to schools and orphanages, so we can truly make this a Festival of Lights for everyone.

If you would like to donate more than just the price of a ticket and chips, please click here.

hanukkahLDN

At the G Casino at Piccadilly Circus

3-4 Coventry Street
London, London W1D 6BL
United Kingdom

Map

December 14th

6:30 PM

Attire: Geek Formal

Token Greek: Milo Yiannopoulos

Food: Kosher (Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions.)

Bar: Open

We will be conducting an auction after the gambling portion of the night.

Please watch this space for included items.

Please email sponsors@hanukkahldn.co.uk if you would like to donate or sponsor any prize.

hanukkahLDN is proud to be sponsored by the following most excellent partners:

http://www.lovestruck.com/

http://www.leapanywhere.com/

www.twittabling.com

www.ShenArt.co.il

Your company here.

Contact us for sponsorship opportunities:

email: sponsors@srcldn.com

ping: @hanukkahLDN, @cr, @ezrabutler, or @oderau on Twitter

Hanukkah is the Jewish Festival of Lights.

It falls out on the 25th of Kislev (November-December) and commemorates the Hasmonean victory over the Greek army, and the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem. Tradition tells us that they only found enough pure olive oil to light the sacred Menorah for one night, and it miraculously lasted 8 nights until they were able to receive new supplies.

The Jews have many traditions that go along with Hanukkah:

• The lighting of the Menorah (Hanukkiah in Modern Hebrew): commemoration of the miracle of the lighting of the candelabrum of the Temple. They light one light the first night, two the second night, until eight. When Jews learn computer programming, they inevitably learn how to create a program that will count how many candles are needed for all eight nights.
• Eating of Latkes: Latkes are potato pancakes fried in (Olive) Oil. The oil is to commemorate the miracle.
• Eating of Jelly Doughnuts: Do they really need a reason? (Doughnuts are fried, as well.)
• Giving children presents or money: It is an incentive to study better, as this was one of the things that the Greeks forbade the Jews from doing.
• Spinning the Dreidle: See Gambling.

See Wikipedia for more information.

Do we ever need a reason to party?

There are many parallels between the tech community and the Maccabees. The spirit of the underdog, of the bootstrapper, similarly flows through both. Judah the Maccabee was like the founder of a company who would stop at nothing, against all odds, to succeed. To see his vision come true. And then, after all the battles, after all the fights, seeing that he lacked the basic necessities to keep his site up. But with a miracle, he had 100% uptime. (We think that you get the picture…)

But moreover, because one day Ezra Butler and Calvin Robinson were chatting on Skype and they simultaneously decided that Hanukkah should be celebrated in London this year.

Then, quite fortuitously, Ezra was given a card at a random concert in Tel Aviv about a charity that donated Israeli clean solar and water  technologies to African villages. Oddie Ume-Ezeoke was hooked.