Now that we are in the middle of the celebration of Chanukah, my house is filled with the smell of frying latkes. When I think back on my earliest childhood memories, there are certain smells which I remember the most: the smell of fresh cut grass; that musty smell after a sudden rainfall; my Bubbe’s house on a Thursday night as she rendered the gribbenes (chicken fat and onions); a burnt match, especially as my Mom was lighting the Sabbath candles.

As I grew older, the smells changed: my husband’s aftershave lotion; the smell of a newborn baby ; my challah baking in the oven as I prepared for the Sabbath.

These are a few of my favorite smells.

What smells do you remember? Please share them with me…

These smells were always connected to a physical “thing.”

The cut grass was connected to my Dad’s “hand lawn mower.”

The gribbenes were always rendered in my Bubbe’s cast iron pot.

The Sabbath candles related to my other Bubbe’s bronze candlesticks which was one of the few possessions she shlepped with her across the Russian border. They now adorn my candle lighting table.

So many of the remembered smells are related to physical objects, and for good reason. As powerful as is the sense of smell, it becomes that much more “memorialized” when it is remembered along with another sense, be that touch or sight or sound or taste.

We know that the taste sense is directed strongly by the smell sense. The aroma of a good wine affects the taste of the wine. The smell of fresh coffee brewing when we pass by our favorite café makes us want to stop and buy a cup.

Some of the items I make for Jewish Heirlooms have that sense of smell as their cornerstone: the Sabbath and Holiday candle holders (and the matches used), the lighting a Yahrzeit candle, the smell of frying latkes for Chanukah and more.

Talk about your family heirlooms with your children, family and friends. Try to connect them with as many of the senses as you can for each item. Talk about holiday or Shabbat celebrations and the sense of smell, touch, taste that each tradition brings to mind. When you surround your home with Judaica, you help create ways for your children to remember family holidays and traditions.