Religiously oriented apps are increasingly popular in the iTunes App Store. Just the number of versions of the Bible for the device is impressive. With Hannukah fast approaching I thought we might look at two nice ones- iMenorah and iDreidel.

First Up – iMenorah

When I was a kid we took a family vacation during winter break. Most years that meant that we were on vacation during part or all of the Hanukkah festival. We packed carefully as we were traveling for two weeks and were a family of five but inevitably there were few things left behind. Suntan lotion was always forgotten, as were at least one person’s pair of sunglasses. And no matter how hard we tried and no matter how hard we planned, we always seem to forget to bring the Chanukah menorah (known in Hebrew as a Hannukiah). So every year we came up with a different creative way to build a menorah. I remember one year simply putting the candles in the sand. (Yes, we were never a cold-weather family.) Another year we took nine different orange juice containers (the kind of frozen concentrated orange juice comes in) and used those. (Actually it was ten, eight for the candles and two placed on on top of the other for the shamash.) If only we’d been living in the age of the iPhone we wouldn’t have had to work so hard. Instead, we would have just pulled out our iPhones, started iMenorah and gotten down to the presents lighting.

iMenorah is a virtual, iPhone-based menorah. An application like this could be really cheesy, overly quaint or try too hard to capture that “old world” feel. This doesn’t. This is a nice, relatively simple implementation of the menorah on iPhone. It looks good, it actually works, and it allows you to interact with the image of the menorah rather than just look at it. You can light each candle using the Shamash (“user” candle) and it even has a “ritual failsafe” whereby you can only light the candles in the proper ritual manner (from left to right rather than right to left).
The animation looks realistic but isn’t over the top; the candles actually burn down and the blessings for the holiday are chanted. And you don’t even have to dig the wax out of each candle holder every night. (If you grew up using those ubiquitous multi-colored candles you KNOW what I mean!)

There are few other aspects of this application that I really like.

I love the fact that the blessings are not sung by someone with a superb operatic voice or by someone who sounds like they came out of the schtetl (not that there’s anything wrong with someone who came out of the schtetl). Rather, they are sung by someone just like you or me (assuming that you and I have neither an operatic voice or came out of the schtetl.)

I love the fact that during the eight days of Hanukkah application will automatically show the proper number of candles for the day. That’s fantastic as one of the refrains I often heard growing up was… “Which night IS it again??”

And I love the fact the proceeds from the sale of the application will, in part be donated to a charitable organization. Better yet, the developers have not only indicated that a minimum of a 10% tithe will be given but they also indicated the specific organization to whom the contribution will be made.

When I heard about this application I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. It initially struck me as a little too cutesy to put a menorah on an iPhone. But the actual execution of this application is really quite excellent. Moreover, the developers really put the time and thought into creating this as a real, usable, enhancement to the holiday and not some cute holiday curiosity. I’m rather impressed.

You can get iMenorah HERE in the App Store for $1.99.

Next Up – Dreidel

Are you still making your Hannukah Dreidel out of clay?
Are you still spinning it by hand?
How “old schul” can you get?

Here’s the 5769 version of the old classic!

The application shows a traditional, simple wooden dreidel. All you need to do to start the dreidel spending is either swipe your finger from right to left (the way Hebrew is read) or shake your iPhone or iPod Touch. The dreidel spins for a time and then lands on one of its four sides. In keeping with the game, each letter represents a different payout (oh, did we happen to mention that this is a gambling game??) and the application explains what each letter represents.

The first time I tried the application it played the melody of “I have a little dreidel”. The sound of the song is cheesy. Moreover, and this is simply a personal bias, I can’t stand the song. (Perhaps it comes from the days when I was in a high school choir and, at this time of year, we sang beautiful, soaring, powerful music such as Handel’s Messiah and then, threw in “I Have A Little Dreidel” to balance things out. Yuck! Regardless, I’m not a fan.) Anyway, in the control panel which is reached by tapping the “I” in the lower right-hand corner you can turn it off. (I recommend you turn it off.) On that same page you find instructions for the game.

In all, this is simple and not overly impressive, but it does the job. If you’re looking for a virtual dreidel this isn’t a bad choice.

Dreidel is available HERE in the App Store for $.99

With iMenorah and Dreidel on you iPhone or iPod Touch, you’ll have a virtual Hannuka party with you no matter where you go!

How you would like to subscribe to Gear Diary? We offer:

No related posts.