The festival included a  performance by metropolitan-Boston area Jewish day school students and featured klezmer melodies and a bilingual (Hebrew and English)  medley of songs including Sephardic and 16th-century Italian versions of "Maoz Tsur," and the song "First Chanukah Night" from the musical  Yours, Anne. More than 300 pupils and their families attended.  Participating schools included Boston's Jewish Community Day School, the Gann Academy, the Rashi School, the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston, and the South Area Solomon Schechter Day School.

Also in time for the winter holidays, AFORAM New England has introduced the Chanukah Gelt for Health Initiative, a web-based project located at www.aforam.org that encourages individuals to honor friends and family with a gift designated in support of a range of pediatric and adult patient-care programs at Rambam.

Spearheading the launch of the New England Chapter of AFORAM is Eisenhower Fellow and dynamic Friend of Rambam Robin JR Blatt, RN, MPH. She may be reached at  robinblatt@biogenuity.com