SUMMARY: Disappearing dreidels, reappearing dreidels, strange blue powder with unidentified genetic material, plus 2 good looking Rabbis. Torchwood helps the aliens return home.
8 short chapters so you can enjoy all of Chanukah with the Torchwood Team
Be sure to check out the graphics of the dreidel and the spaceship at: http:/ artwork_avivb. livejournal. com/ (just remove the spaces)
They drove out to the ship in the Torchwood SUV. The Smurfs were so short that Owen and Ianto had to lift them into the vehicle. When they got to the ship, they saw that it was quite small and certainly not designed for any type of attack. They were all able to fit inside if they ducked a bit.
Examining the chamber they could clearly see that it was designed to hold a dreidel shaped object. The Hebrew letters were there along with some very elaborate scroll work.
Owen snorted. "Well its not going to be easy to find a dreidel that's going to be an exact fit. Not with all that extra decoration."
"Maybe we could make a mold…" Tosh started to say.
"Got it!" Ianto's shouting startled them all especially the Smurfs. He smiled at them, to hopefully calm them down. "The solution is in the song!" They looked at him like he was demented. "The dreidel song," he said in exasperation.
It only took a moment, and Rabbi Robbi began to smile. "I had a little dreidel."
"I made it out of clay," Ianto continued,
"And when its dry and ready," the Rabbi added
"The aliens will fly away," Ianto concluded.
"Ok, he's lost it for sure," Owen said in disgust.
"No, listen…we get some clay, and we make a mold in the shape of the dreidel. Actually, wax would work best. We can melt the wax, pour it in the chamber, wait for it to dry and then lift it out. We hollow it out and use that as the form for the dreidel. You coat the wax in something durable, metal, or plastic or something, and you melt the wax off before you seal the form. And you end up with a perfectly fitting dreidel."
"Where are we going to get wax at this time of night?" Owen groused.
"Oh, I think a few hundred Chanukah candles should do the trick," Jack said excitedly. "Explain to them what we want to do and that we want to remove the chamber so we can make the mold."
With a little cajoling the Smurfs finally agreed. They stopped back at the synagogue, loaded up the hundred or so boxes of candles and headed to the Hub, Rabbi and Smurfs in tow.
Ianto set up a small burner and melted the wax. Jack and the Rabbi continued to talk to the Smurfs to figure out if the inside of the core was totally hollow. Fortunately it was. Ianto sprayed the chamber with an alien anti-stick solution and poured the wax into the chamber. Everyone held their breaths. He got nervous about the wax sticking and tried to remove it too soon. The wax was still soft and quickly warped out of shape.
Everyone groaned.
"Not a problem. The wax can be re-melted and we'll try it again." This time he patiently waited until the wax was fully cooled.
Gwen had the idea of putting the chamber filled with wax into the freezer for a bit. "We do that with some baking stuff to make sure that cakes come out cleanly." It was a stroke of genius. After a half hour in the freezer, Ianto carefully inverted the chamber and a solid dreidel shaped mold slid out.
He carefully hollowed out the mold until The Smurfs nodded their approval. Jack had set up some equipment in the conference room, so they carefully took the wax mold up there. Jack showed them the electroplating system he had set up. It was a little primitive, but if they were careful he felt they should be able to coat the wax form inside and out with a very think coat of metal.
Everyone waited for him to begin. "Oh no," he said laughing; I don't have the patience for this type of work. However, Tosh has a delicate touch, so she's agreed to give it a try."
"But I want all of you out of here so I can concentrate." She put on a magnifying headset and prepared to get to work. "This will take several hours, so you will all have to be patient."
As they waited in the Hub, the Rabbi, Jack, Ianto and Gwen continued to converse with the Smurfs. It turned out that they had been stuck in Cardiff for several months, despairing what to do, until they saw a dreidel in a store window. From then on, they were on a constant hunt for them. They didn't find many until December when all of a sudden, they began to see them everywhere. They literally went into a frenzy trying to find a dreidel that would fit into the chamber.
When the Rabbi explained that they had a religious significance for people at this time of year, they were extremely apologetic and embarrassed. Ianto would later claim that he was sure one of the Smurfs started to turn pink with shame.
Several hours later, Tosh was finally finished with the electroplating. They looked at the finished product and the Smurfs seemed very happy with the results. They used hot water to remove the wax, Tosh sealed up the few small holes along the edges left open for drainage and they were ready to see if it worked.
They drove back to the spaceship and went inside. The sun was just coming up and everything had a beautiful pink glow. Jack thought about the sunrises on his home planet and realized how homesick and scared the Isaacharians must be.
Tosh was too nervous to try the fit, so Jack carefully placed the form over the chamber and lowered it down. It fit perfectly. All of a sudden lights began to blink inside the ship. The eldest Smurf told the Rabbi that if the fit was perfect stage one of the launch process would begin, but that there was no danger of a lift-off until they loaded the fuel core.
They all shook hands and the youngest Smurf began to give the rest of the 'borrowed' dreidels back to the team. The final dreidel she held was the one with the four cats. Gwen could see how reluctant the Smurf was to part with this one. "Why don't we let them keep the last dreidel as a present from us?"
Jack was about to object when Ianto added, "you know, I saw that one online, and I don't think it was much more than £15. Why not? We can get another one and the owner will never know the difference."
Rabbi Robbi smiled. "And I have an idea." She motioned for the dreidel and the Smurf pouted but handed it to her. She pulled out a sharpie and wrote something on one side of the dreidel - רַב רומֵמָה(Rabbi Romema*). She pointed to herself as she handed it back for the Smurfs to look at. They were whispering again, but clearly saying "Rebbe, Rebbe."
"Apparently they can read Hebrew a bit as well." Why don't I write each of your names on the dreidel in Hebrew so they will remember us. She explained what she wanted to do, and the Smurfs nodded in agreement. "Jack is easy; that would be Jacob or Yaakov - יַעֲקֹב." She showed the names to the Smurfs pointing to Jack. "Ianto is John which would be Y'honatan - יְהוֹנָתָן or Jonathan. I'll write that write below Jack. Gwen means Moon Goddess, right?"
Gwen nodded.
"Well a goddess would be a no-no in Judaism, but the Song of Solomon does refer to a white moon which is used as a girl's name. So that would be Levanah - לְבָנָה. We'll put that on the next cat. Owen means the nobleman. I think we should go with Yoram, - יְהוֹרָם which is a shortened version of Yehoram which means exalted by G-d."
"He certainly thinks so," Ianto snarked.
"Finally we have Toshiko. I have to admit that I don't know the meaning of your name."
"It means intelligent girl." Toshiko felt a little embarrassed by her name.
The Rabbi nodded. "That's a beautiful name. In Hebrew it would be Bina - בִּינָהwhich means understanding and wisdom." She handed the dreidel back to the Smurfs who looked at each name and pointed to carefully to each person it represented. Finally, the Smurfs signaled that it was time for them to leave. (Waving bye-bye is apparently a universal signal).
As they stepped outside, they heard the Smurfs yell, "Chag sameach." "Happy Holiday," the Rabbi translated. The hatch closed and a few minutes later the space ship rose into the air and then streaked across the sky like a comet. They stood and watched the ship until it vanished on the horizon. Tosh sighed. "I hope they get home safely. It isn't often that we get aliens that are actually nice visiting us."
It was already 7 AM so they drove the Rabbi home and then crashed at the Hub.
-*There is no requirement that the English and Hebrew names of a person must be the 'same.' While they often are, particularly if they are biblical names (Sara, Rachael, Jacob (Ya'akov), Abraham), you could name a child Aaron in Hebrew and Fred in English if you wanted. Traditionally, Ashkenazi Jews (from Europe) name their children for a deceased relative. So there may be a convention of what the Hebrew/English combination is or there may not. Many times, there is no English equivalent (as in the case of Romema in our story), and people will pick a name that sounds similar to the Hebrew or perhaps starts with the same letter and has the same number of syllables, e.g. Romema/Roberta. However, even where there is a clear English equivalent, if the name is deemed old-fashioned or perhaps "too Jewish" then another name will be chosen. Moses is English for Moshe, but the child's English name more often will be Morris (very common in my grandparents generation) , Martin or Marvin, (in my generation) or Madison, Madsen, or Maxim today.