BANGOR, Maine — If latkes are burning in the basement kitchen of Congregation Beth El, storyteller Mark Binder will use it to enhance his tale about the rabbi’s wife, who was a great cook except for one thing.
“Her latkes were lethal,” Bender of Providence, Rhode Island, said recently. “It was a smell like something rotting in the basement that you just can’t find,” he said, describing what was so offensive about the woman’s potato pancakes.
“One of my favorite Jewish stories is ‘The Challah at Chelm,’” he said in a telephone interview. “Chelm is a village of fools where the apprentice baker forgot to order more flour. The resulting disaster is a monstrous challah that threatens to escape from the bakery and take over the village.”
Challah is a braided bread made with eggs served on the Jewish sabbath and holidays, such as Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights.
This year, it begins at sundown Dec. 24 and ends at sundown Jan. 1. Hanukkah in 2017 will be from Dec. 12 to 20.
Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem by Judah Maccabee in 165 B.C. after the temple had been destroyed by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, king of Syria. The oil found in the temple should have lasted just one day but miraculously burned for eight.
The holiday lasts eight days, with an additional candle in a menorah lit each night by the shamash, or servant candle, and includes the exchanging of gifts.
The holiday also celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, of purity over adulteration, of spirituality over materiality, according to a website about Jewish practices, Chabad.org.
It is a minor religious holiday, but its December celebration has given it more significance as a cultural tradition, especially in Western countries where Christmas and all its religious and secular trappings dominate public and private activities.
Other traditions include eating foods cooked in oil, such as latkes or potato pancakes and jelly doughnuts.
Binder does not consider himself to be strictly a Jewish storyteller, though he is Jewish. He tailors his performances to his audience, so many of the stories he’ll tell at Beth El will be Jewish themed.
“I like to focus on the universal element in a story in a Jewish setting,” he said.
Binder is the author of more than 20 books, including, “ A Hanukkah Present: Twelve Tales to Give and Share.”
He has been a professional storyteller and writer for more than 16 years. Binder’s background is in theater and playwriting. He recently returned from an international storytelling tour.
People have asked Binder if what he does is interactive.
“Yes, I talk and people listen,” he said. “But there comes a point when I’m not there and the people aren’t there listening. All that’s there is the story and it’s very real. And, it’s a very magical experience It’s communal, it’s immersive.”
Storyteller Mark Binder will perform at 4 p.m. Saturday and 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Congregation Beth El, 183 French St. in Bangor. For information, call 945-4578.