How Hanukkah Became A ‘High’ Holiday

[zachw]

By now, you may have seen the year-old YouTube video of a bearded guy in a blazer lighting all eight bowls of the Grav Menorah — a cross between a glass bong and a traditional hanukiah — and taking one massive toke.

 

But the religiously inspired cannabis consumption device, which retails for, yes, $699 at 420Science.com, was not originally intended for sale. In fact, David Daily, the 35-year-old glass blower and businessman behind Grav Labs — the scientific glass company he founded a decade ago in Austin, Texas — made the menorah bong a few years back for the sole enjoyment of his family.

 

“We like to partake in the holidays, and I thought it would be a really cool actual menorah,” said Daily, who grew up in a Conservative Jewish family in Houston.

 

Daily’s friends over at the online headshop 420Science knew of his creation, Daily explained, and last year their YouTube channel, the 420ScienceClub, decided to promote his device with a video demonstration. It wasn’t long before the menorah bong went viral.

 

Already this Hanukkah season — the video has clocked thousands more hits in recent weeks – Daily has sold seven of his made-to-order pieces. For the moment he has capped production.

 

As marijuana enters the cultural mainstream, an increasing number of Jewish tokers are infusing their traditional holiday rituals with a dose of the cannabis plant. Last Passover, the Jewish pot legalization group LeOr hosted the country’s first official Cannabis Seder in Portland, Oregon (a state where weed is now legal for both medical and recreational use). And even the High Holidays have gotten a nod, albeit on a less grand scale.

 

Hanukkah, too, has raised its pop culture profile in recent years. What was once seen as the lesser alternative to Christmas now has its own crop of ugly sweaters – including one recently pulled from Nordstrom’s shelves following complaints on social media that its slogans, “Hanukkah J.A.P.” and “Chai Maintenance,” perpetuated stereotypes of Jewish women.

 

Hanukkah also now has its own kitschy anthem. Adam Sandler recently updated his classic, “The Chanukah Song, ” for the fourth time (the first time since 2002). In addition to refreshing the list of Jewish celebrities, he tweaked the last stanza to reflect the current state of affairs. The Jewish comedian — who first coined the term “marijuanakkah” — closes his latest version with an invitation to “smoke your medical marijuanakkah.”

 

 

 

Full article here.