HOW WE CELEBRATE

The religious observance related to Chanukah is the lighting of the chanukiah, the nine-candled menorah. The candles represent the eight days of Chanukah, plus a shamash, or worker candle, to light each of the other eight. The chanukiah is lit after dark, preferably at a time when there is pedestrian or other traffic on your street. The chanukiah is placed in a window, and the candles, or oil, are allowed to burn out on their own, lasting at least one-half hour. The shamash candle is present because the Chanukah candles are for pleasure only; we do not use them for any productive purpose, not even to light other Chanukah candles. This is the task of the shamash. (See “How to Light the Chanukah Candles.”) During the eight days of Chanukah we thank God for the miracle of Chanukah when we recite the Birkat HaMazon, the Blessing Following a Meal. This additional prayer, Al Hanissim, focuses on gratitude for God’s participation in the battle between the Syrian-Greeks and the Hasmonians, and stresses the wonder of the victory of the few against the many which allowed the Jews to reenter the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, to rekindle its lights.

It is traditional to eat fried foods on Chanukah, to remind us of the miracle of the oil. Jews originally from European countries, the Ashkenazim, usually eat latkes, a potato pancake fried in oil. Jews from Mediterranean countries traditionally eat sufganiyot, delicious jelly doughnuts. This custom is prevalent in Israel. (See “Chanukah Recipes.”)

The traditional game of Chanukah is dreidel, a game played with a spinning top. Legend has it that in the time of the Roman conquest of Jerusalem when Torah study was forbidden, Jews studied with spinning tops on their tables. When soldiers entered their homes to be sure no Jew was in violation of Roman law, the invader saw people playing dreidel. They believed their edicts against Jewish learning were being upheld, knowing the Jews’ disdain for gambling. The dreidel is decorated with the Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hey, shin, and stand for the phrase, Nes Gadol Haya Sham, a Great Miracle Happened There. Of course, Israeli dreidels are decorated with the letters nun, gimmel, hey, and pey, and stand for the phrase, Nes Gadol Haya Po, A Great Miracle Happened Here. They also stand for the Yiddish words which are the rules of the dreidel game, nit (nothing), gantz (all), halb (half), and shtell (put). (See “Playing Dreidel”.)

Chanukah gift giving has by tradition been in the form of money, or gelt. This is symbolic of the minting of coins, a reminder of the national sovereignty that is central to the Chanukah story.