Elena has obligations and so I thought I would be a good Christian and do her Hanukkah post for her since tonight is the first night. Then I remembered. This was going to be tough since I know very little about this Jewish festival of lights. Then I started thinking about other friends and one person stuck in my mind–A man named Al Tuner. Danny.
I first knew Danny online, probably about 14 years ago. We all became real friends eventually since we lived in Northern Virginia. He was a decent sort, once you got past his gruffness. Danny loved trains. I don’t mean sorta liked trains, Danny LOVED trains and he went by the moniker Al Tuner. Some of you might have known him. Al Tuner was a play on words for one of his favorite places, Horseshoe Curve in Altoona, PA. Al worked for Amtrak at the time and he would stop in Altoona as often as he could get by with.
I lost track of Danny and several years ago I made the sad discovery he was deceased. He had had some fatal illness. I think of Danny every Hanukkah however, and always have, ever since I cyberly spent that first Hanukkah with him online. It seems that Danny had a train menorah. He told me all about it. Unlike the one I am posting, his was lots of different colors. He described it in detail. It was one of his prized possessions. Danny must have been lonely. He talked for hours about his train menorah and his dad, who had been dead for a while. It was a very reflective night for my friend. By the end of that conversation, I felt like I knew more train menorahs than I ever thought possible.
I also knew more about Hanukka also, seen through the eyes of another. I can’t tell you about the religious significance but I came away knowing a lot more about families and about a son’s relationship with his father and how a train menorah was simply the manifestation of something much deeper. I hope Danny had his train menorah buried with him.
If there is anything to the notion that the dead live on in our souls, then Al Tuner certainly got in mine that night. I thank him for sharing his feelings and for telling me what was important to him. I wish him many more train rides around Horseshoe Curve. Danny lives on in our hearts and minds and every time I hear a train, I think of Danny. 
Danny, like the song says, long may you run.
Danny’s website of short articles about trains, he calls muses.
http://www.on-track-on-line.com/musemenu.shtml
Thank you Moon for posting, it was a crazy day yesterday!
Traditional view
When the Second Temple in Jerusalem was looted and services stopped, Judaism was outlawed. In 167 BCE Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeus erected in the Temple. He banned circumcision and ordered pigs to be sacrificed at the altar of the temple.[14]Antiochus’s actions provoked a large-scale revolt. Mattityahu, a Jewish priest, and his five sons Jochanan, Simeon, Eleazar, Jonathan, and Judah led a rebellion against Antiochus. Judah became known as Yehuda HaMakabi (“Judah the Hammer”). By 166 BCE Mattathias had died, and Judah took his place as leader. By 165 BCE the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy was successful. The Temple was liberated and rededicated. The festival of Hanukkah was instituted to celebrate this event.[15] Judah ordered the Temple to be cleansed, a new altar to be built in place of the polluted one and new holy vessels to be made. According to the Talmud, olive oil was needed for the menorah in the Temple, which was required to burn throughout the night every night. The story goes that there was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight day festival was declared by the Jewish sages to commemorate this miracle.
Happy Hannukah, Elena.
Thanks, Moon-howler, for the good memories of Al Tuner. He was an honorable man and very proud of his Jewish heritage.
Happy Hanukkah to all our Jewish friends.
Tyndall, yes, he was a very honorable man, is so many ways.
No one even zapped me over my sarcasm about being a good Christian and doing the Hanukkah post for the year. No one even asked me since when I started billing myself as a good Christian. You all have let me down., 👿 😈
My mother always said that Christians are just heretical Jews. 😉
….so if I’m reading this right, this Antiochus dude wanted to keep the knife away from my crotch and liked a good pig Bar-b-que. I gotta tell ya, I’m not seeing this guy as being all bad!!