Hanukkah is an eight-day winter holiday, which celebrates the successful struggle of the Jews against King Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Syria. There are many traditions to celebrate the day, such as lighting the menorah  ,frying potato pancakes and spinning the dreidel  . One night in the 1990s, we tidied up wrapping paper and toys while the lighted menorah stood on the kitchen table. When we were not there, as the many-colored candles broke, our long-haired black-and-white cat, Ladybug, jumped onto the kitchen table and brushed past them. "Do you smell something?" asked my husband, Donny. "Is something burning?" asked Molly, our oldest, age ten. It was Ladybug! The fur on her left side had been burnt. She wasn't hurt, but she wore an upset expression all evening, and for the rest of the week she hid whenever we began chanting the Hebrew blessings over the candles. " _ . The following year, for fifth-grade homework about family traditions, Molly wrote about Ladybug's story with the Hanukkah candles. The teacher, Lynn Fink, a sporty and funny woman, enjoyed Molly's story and gave it an A. Three years later, Seth got Ms. Fink for fifth grade. He also worked the burnt cat fur into a writing assignment, and he, too, got an A. Our son Lee, three years later: the same teacher, the same story, the same A. We had no idea these retellings were piling up. The year Lily got Ms. Fink for fifth grade, she also felt inspired to write down what happened that night. By now, we were very fond of Ms. Fink. We invited her to join us for a night of Hanukkah. It was her first time to experience the Jewish holiday. Happily, she ate her potato pancakes. Gamely, she spun the dreidel. Delightedly, she opened the small gift of home-made cookies the children had prepared for her. As the evening seemed to be winding down, she clapped her hands, rubbed them together as if before a big dinner, and said excitedly," So! When do we torch the cat?" What happened to Ladybug when the family celebrated Hanukkah that year?
She was seriously hurt that night. She broke the candles on the menorah. She had some of her fur burnt. She got a surprising present from the family.