Even though we’re more than halfway through Hanukkah, we thought we’d tip you off that the 92nd Street Y’s website offers an introductory guide to Hanukkah basics that includes background on the holiday, history, candle-lighting times, the story behind dreidels and menorahs and much more.

And if you were ever curious about what the word sufganiot means, here’s your chance.

Hint: Homer Simpson would love them.

Non-profit Kids with Cameras is the organization behind the Academy Award-winning documentary Born into Brothels. The documentary, a look into the lives of prostitutes’ children in Calcutta, screened at Makor and eventually aired on HBO. HBO’s website offers an interview with filmmaker Ross Kaufman.

KwC’s latest project is The Kids of Jerusalem. Twenty-six Jewish and Palestinian children were given cameras and sent out to photograph Jerusalem’s Old City in groups. Some of the pictures can be seen on their website. They’re worth a look.

In January, the program’s head, Jason Eskenazi, will be stopping by the Y to talk about working with kids in a political hotspot. Eskenazi, who previously worked as a freelance photographer with the Times and elsewhere before hooking up with KwC, also did an amazing photo essay on the Mountain Jews of Azerbaijan for Eurasianet.

[Beyond the Wall: Palestinians and Israelis Through a Child’s Lens: 01/09/06]

Here’s one more contender for your NYE plans (and we think it’s a darn good one): New Year’s Eve at Makor:

• Balagan Boogaloo: DJ Shotnez and DJ Handler (right) will be spinning Brazillian baile funk, bhangra and afrobeat. Live dancers, projectors, the whole shebang.
• Live music from Frank London (Klezmatics) and Aaron Alexander’s Midrash Mish Mosh; klezmer meets Gypsy, Balkan and Middle Eastern music
• A screening of the James Cagney classic White Heat with an introduction by film legend Peter Bogdanovich
• The “Slamukah” poetry slam
• Raffle for a trip for two to Fiji
• Two-hour open beer-and-wine bar from 10pm-12am and champagne toast at midnight

Upcoming 92nd Street Y guest Chris Kennedy Lawford grew up in one of America’s most famous families. The son of Pat Kennedy and Peter Lawford, his childhood was a different one: The first woman he ever saw naked was Jackie O. Marilyn Monroe taught him how to do the twist. His father’s best friends were Frank Sinatra and JFK.

Newsweek published an excerpt from Lawford’s new book. Interesting reading.

[Chris Kennedy Lawford on the Kennedy Legacy: 01/12/06]