Chanukah is the Festival of Lights December 20-28, 2011
There are Jewish holidays and holy days and they are observed in different ways. Chanukah is a holiday. The "ch" of Chanukah is not enunciated like "ch" in child, but as a gutteral, throaty sound...like the "ch" in Johann Bach. There is no English equivalent. As a result, many pronounce it as if it started with an "H".
Chanukah is a holiday celebrated for 8 days. This year, Chanukah is from December 20-28. Jewish holidays are celebrated on the same day of the Jewish calendar every year. Chanukah is always celebrated on the 25th of the month of Kislev. However, the Jewish calendar is not the same as the civil calendar used by most of the western world. For that reason every year people will ask, "When is Chanukah this year?" meaning, what day on the civil calendar.
Chanukah is a wonderful holiday of renewed dedication, faith and hope. It celebrates the triumph over darkness, of purity over destruction. About 174 B.C.E., the land of Israel was invaded and ruled by the Greek emperor Antiochus. He tried to eliminate the Jewish religion by forcing Jews to worshop idols and adopt the Greek culture under penalty of death if they refused.
Against all odds, a small band of faithful Jews led by the Hasmonean family defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth. They drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it to the service of G-d. This is one of the miracles that we celebrate.
The Holy Temple in Jerusalem which housed the 10 commandments and was the most holy place for the Jewish people. It had been completely desecrated by the Greeks. When the Jews went to re-light the Temple's menorah (the seven branched candelabra) they found only a single day's supply of olive oil that had survived the destruction. Another miracle occured in that the one-day supply burned for eight days, until new oil could be prepared under ritually pure conditions.
To commemorate and publicize these miracles, the holiday of Chanukah was instituted. At the heart of the holiday is the nighly lighting of the special Chanukah menorah, also called a "chanukiah" (pronounced "chanu-key-ah"). This menorah for Chanukah has 8 candles with a 9th place for a candle called a "shamash", used to light the other candles. The 8 lights commemorate the fact that the one day supply of oil burned for 8 days.
A single candle is lit on the first nght, two on the second evening and so on until the eighth night of Chanukah when all eight lights are lit. Some people light the menorahs with oil and wicks, and some use colorful candles. The candles are lit after sundown. We place the menorahs near a window of our home so that people will see the light.
Chanukah customs include eating foods fried in oil such as potato pancakes, also called "latkes" and jelly doughnuts. Some people like to eat latkes with apple sauce and some with sour cream. In my family, we're split!
We play a traditional game with a dreidel, a 4-sided, spinning top inscribed with 4 Hebrew letters, one on each side. These letters form an acronym which means "a great miracle happened there". To learn more about this game read my post called "What in the World Is A Dreidel!"
Traditionally, Chanukah "gelt" or Chanukah money is given to children on this holiday so that we can teach them to give some of it to charity. There is no specific Jewish tradition of giving gifts each day. Many families make a point of not giving actual presents to maintain the Jewish tradition, while others may give small gifts; a game or a book or an item of clothing.
To those who celebrate it, Happy Chanukah!
For some really rocking Chanukah music to the tune of Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" click here!
Comments (4)Subscribe to CommentsComment