When it came to giving Christmas cards and hampers this year, Larry Fingleson thought he would try something a little different.
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The managing director of a busy Sydney financial group told his clients and colleagues that, instead of receiving the traditional Christmas gifts, they were going to be invited to give presents that they could hand make themselves.
So a curious, eclectic and enthusiastic group of 53 men, women, and children attended a cooking class in the community-run Our Big Kitchen (OBK) in Bondi to make meals for people attending the Uniting Church's Wayside Chapel during the Christmas period. They also learnt about the Jewish holiday of light, Chanuka, which this year ends as Christmas begins.
"We invited them to share in the spirit of giving. I thought it would be good to give them some food for the soul," said Mr Fingleson.
"We had a lot more people wanting to come than we could actually fit in," he said.
In the middle of cooking batches of vegetable soup, cookies, spaghetti bolognaise and fried rice, the group downed kitchen knives and spoons to watch the lighting of the menorah, the Jewish candelabra, and learn about the Jewish festival.
Chanuka is is an eight-day religious festival that celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and the re-lighting of the temple's menorah with only enough oil for one night. The festival celebrates the miracle of the oil lasting for for eight days instead of one and until a new supply of oil arrived to keep the flame going.
OBK general manager Greg Fisher told them that the joys of Christmas and Chanuka are often thought to be associated because of their closeness on the calendar, but while the traditions were unrelated they had a common bond of reaching out to people in need regardless of religion.
OBK is a commercial kitchen which is kosher and halal certified and produced 50,000 meals last year for people in need. Mr Fisher said in 2015 they expect to increase their output of meals by 50 percent.
The kitchen which was set up by Rabbi Dovid Slavin and his wife Laya is run entirely on donations and from hosting private and corporate events like the one organised by Mr Fingleson.