#Hanukkah bazaar at Or VeShalom offers Mediterranean cuisine and early holiday shopping

Congregation Or VeShalom Holds 38th Annual Bazaar; Largest #Hanukkah Event in Atlanta-1st in Newly Incorporated Brookhaven, GA 

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ATLANTA, GA -- Hanukkah comes early this year, which means Congregation

Or VeShalom’s legendary Hanukkah Bazaar comes early as well. The first day of Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah) falls on Thanksgiving Day this year, but the bazaar arrives a week and a half earlier on November 17, 2013. More than 1,000 Atlantans will walk through the OVS doors between 11 am and 5 pm; and for $3 admission, they get to take part in

• Delicious Mediterranean cuisine
• Hand-made delicacies and pastries
• Gifts and other merchandise from local vendors
• Kids’ games and activities including a Moonwalk
• Gently-used book sale
• All new international dinners auction

See pictures and video from last year’s bazaar and join the event at our Facebook Event. Make plans to see for yourself: Mediterranean pastries, handcrafted jewelry, art, gifts & Judaica, internatl dinners auction, prizes & kids’ games at #OVSHanukkahBazaar. Tweet this:Tweet

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The Wheels Behind the Works

Hanukkah, The Festival of Lights, is a holiday that proves a small minority can overcome great odds. The Hebrew word means "dedication," and there are no other more dedicated modern-day Maccabees than the OVS Sisterhood. These women are dedicated to their synagogue, Congregation Or VeShalom, and preserving its 100 years of Sephardic Atlanta Jewry.

On any given Tuesday morning at OVS, members of the Sisterhood are rolling out dough, filling, pinching, basting and baking the synagogue’s most famous treasure: burekas. These delightful Turkish pastries are available year-round, but they are primarily created for the sisterhood's crowning achievement: the Hanukkah Bazaar hosted every year at OVS. The event brings in more than a thousand people from all over Georgia and as far away as Tennessee and the Carolinas.

Aside from being drawn in by the delicious food the Sisterhood prepares, Guy Harari, Or VeShalom President, said the bazaar is a great opportunity for people of any religion to come and mingle with their friends, including friends they don’t see very often.

“The bazaar is an event for the whole Atlanta community,” he said. “They like the food and like what we do.” 

Throughout the year, the women of the Sisterhood buzz around the OVS kitchen, dedicating their time to bake their famous wares. Michelle Rich, former Sisterhood President, said they are never really finished with the bazaar because they start cooking for the next one immediately following the last bazaar.

“We've got so many orders that when the bazaar ends we're cooking to finish all of our orders from the previous bazaar,” Rich said. “And then we keep on cooking all winter, and spring and summer and fall for the next bazaar.” 

This year is the 38th Annual Hanukkah Bazaar, and the Sisterhood's famous wares will be available on location and to go:

• Burekas – Savory Turkish pastries filled with potato, spinach, eggplant, rice or ground beef. Share: Tweet
• Biscochos – Lightly sweetened shortbread cookies
• Burmuelos – A deep-fried pastry smothered in honey
• Quajado – Spinach and cheese quiche-like casserole
• Travados – Almond, walnut and honey-filled pastry
• Baklava – Rich, delicate filo layers filled with a mixture of ground nuts, cinnamon, spices and honey

Meals will be served all day, so anyone can come early for lunch and stay late for dinner. You can see how much everyone enjoys the food in our Facebook album and on our Google+ page.

The Maccabee ladies of the OVS Sisterhood never think twice about tackling this major event. With the help of friends, family and other congregants, the impossible seems possible.

"Everybody just pitches in,” said Rich. “It’s an event that brings Or VeShalom together." 

And they prove their dedication to Or VeShalom with relentless effort because the day after the bazaar ends, planning for the next bazaar begins.

Follow @OrVeShalom

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