Hanukkah began last night, launching eight nights and days of celebration during this Festival of Lights. In the festive spirit, we present the pop-up book Chanukah Lights (using an alternative spelling), published by Candlewick Press in 2011, with a text by Michael J. Rosen, illustration and paper engineering by Robert Sabuda, and additional design work by Simon Arizpe and Shelby Arnold.
The book presents “eights scenes that, like the flame of the shamash candle, illuminate places and times where Jews have celebrated” the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle of the lamp therein: the Temple in Jerusalem; a desert encampment; the hold of a refugee ship; Jewish settlements around the world; a shtetl in the shadow of imperial Russia; an early 20th-century American tenement; an Israeli kibbutz; “and a spectacular final scene in which city skyscrapers become menorahs that call upon the stars to be their flames. In each window into history, the Chanukah lights reflect freedom’s promise, hope rekindled amid oppression, and the unflagging faith mirrored in the eyes of all who gather for this Festival of Lights.”
To get the full effect, view this video of Chanukah Lights.
View our previous Hanukkah posts.
We wish you a bright, festive, and very Happy Hanukkah!
PS: In the spring semester, look out for our next major exhibition, “The Pop-up Books of Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart.”