Hanukka meets modernity with 5 fun smartphones apps to help you feel the spirit of the season.
By ZOHAR FRIEDMANiphones R 311(photo credit: REUTERS)
From candle lighting to cooking a Hanukka feast, this year, your smart phone can take part in nearly all holiday festivities. To honor the Festival of Light, Appaholic has compiled five great Hanukka apps to help eat, sing, play and dance your way into the spirit of the holiday.In TuneThis Hanukka, don't let Christmas jingles eclipse your holiday spirit. If you can't help but feel a bit outdone by the yearly Christmas cheer dominating December, we've got just the app to help you make Hanukka a serious contender this holiday season. Hanukkah Ringtones will allow you to customize your phone's ring tone with any number of classic Festival of Lights tunes, jingles and songs. Choose your favorite song from a host of Hanukka classics – in both English and Hebrew – and allow every incoming call to put you in the spirit of Hanukka. Also, even post-Hanukka, the app has utility, featuring a number of classic, year-round Jewish tunes, including Shalom Aleihem and Hava Nagila. Enjoy, and let the rhythm get to you. Cost: $1.99Supported formats: iPhone, iPod touch, iPadThe heart of the matterAs with any Jewish holiday, food is an integral element of Hanukka festivities, right up there with your hanukkia, candles and dreidel. As with everything, don't discount your smartphone in assisting you in this delicate matter. Our favorite Hanukka recipes app is Hannukkah Recipes HD, which taps into the Jewish love of eating by offereing over a 100 fun Hanukka and Jewish-themed recipes.Recipes include classics such as latkes, homemade applesauce and doughnuts, as well as holiday-inspired recipes that will certainly become favorites, including gelt double-fudge cake,Hanukkadreidel cookies, Moroccan Hanukka doughnuts and mint flavored Hanukkagelt.Cost: $1.99Supported formats: iPhone, iPod touch, iPadVirtual hanukkiaDesigned by The Jewish Museum in New York, Light My Fire, definitely tops our list of favorite virtual hanukkia apps. First, choose your hanukkia – but wait, not just any hanukkia. Choose from a number of antique and modern hanukkiot from the museum's collection. We personally went with the 1803 Karl Bitzel hanukkia from Ausburg, Germany.Next, choose the background image you'd like for your special hanukkia; the app offers options ranging from star-lit skies to beach scenes. Then, light the perfect hanukkia by swiping a finger across the screen and watch the candles burst into flame.Cost: Free Supported formats: iPhone, iPod touch, iPadAdult’s play timeNot all game apps are designed with children in mind, and Dreidel Labyrinth– a challenging Game-Center supported app with a gambling twist – is definitely for the older crowd. Combining pinball-style hand-eye coordination with the classic Hanukka dreidel game, this app may have you addicted faster than you can tally the gelt (money) you've won. Cost: FreeSupported formats: iPhone, iPod touch, iPadA little colorThis year, get the young ones into the Hanukka spirit with the smartphone coloring app 123 Color: Hanukkah Edition.With nine different Hanukka-themed cartoon drawings, as well as a host of winter and autumn-themed drawings, your kids will certainly feel the spirit of the season.We especially liked this app because it comes with several different coloring settings. Your child can choose to either color freely, or choose a paint-by-numbers setting. In the latter setting, you can increase your child's familiarity with either numbers or upper and lower case letters. Regardless of the setting, this Hanukka app will certainly entertain your child.Cost: FreeSupported formats: iPhone, iPod touch, iPadAppaholic is a bi-weekly column which thematically reviews mobile apps with a Jewish or Israeli twist. If you have an app to suggest, send details to appaholic.jpost@gmail.com The writer is The Jerusalem Post‘s Social Media ManagerFollow @JPost_Lifestyle
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