ChanukkahChanukkah, the Jewish festival of rededication, also known as the
festival of lights, is an eight day festival beginning on the 25th day
of the Jewish month of Kislev.Chanukkah is probably one of the best known Jewish holidays, not because
of any great religious significance, but because of its proximity to
Christmas. Many non-Jews (and even many assimilated Jews!) think of this
holiday as the Jewish Christmas, adopting many of the Christmas customs,
such as elaborate gift-giving and decoration. It is bitterly ironic that
this holiday, which has its roots in a revolution against assimilation
and the suppression of Jewish religion, has become the most assimilated,
secular holiday on our calendar.The Story
The story of Chanukkah begins in the reign of Alexander the Great.
Alexander conquered Syria, Egypt and Palestine, but allowed the lands
under his control to continue observing their own religions and retain a
certain degree of autonomy. Under this relatively benevolent rule, many
Jews assimilated much of Hellenistic culture, adopting the language, the
customs and the dress of the Greeks, in much the same way that Jews in
America today blend into the secular American society.More than a century later, a successor of Alexander, Antiochus IV was in
control of the region. He began to oppress the Jews severely, placing a
Hellenistic priest in the Temple, massacring Jews, prohibiting the
practice of the Jewish religion, and desecrating the Temple by requiring
the sacrifice of pigs (a non-kosher animal) on the altar. Two groups
opposed Antiochus: a basically nationalistic group led by Mattathias the
Hasmonean and his son Judah Maccabee, and a religious traditionalist
group known as the Chasidim, the forerunners of the Pharisees (no direct
connection to the modern movement known as Chasidism). They joined
forces in a revolt against both the assimilation of the Hellenistic Jews
and oppression by the Selucid Greek government. The revolution succeeded
and the Temple was rededicated.According to tradition as recorded in the Talmud, at the time of the
rededication, there was very little oil left that had not been defiled
by the Greeks. Oil was needed for the menorah (candelabrum) in the
Temple, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night.
There was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it
burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil
for the menorah. An eight day festival was declared to commemorate this
miracle. Note that the holiday commemorates the miracle of the oil, not
the military victory: Jews do not glorify war.Traditions
Chanukkah is not a very important religious holiday. The holiday's
religious significance is far less than that of Rosh Hashanah, Yom
Kippur, Sukkot, Passover, and Shavu'ot. It is roughly equivalent to
Purim in significance, and you won't find many non-Jews who have even
heard of Purim! Chanukkah is not mentioned in Jewish scripture; the
story is related in the book of Maccabbees, which Jews do not accept as
scripture.Chanukkah MenorahThe only religious observance related to the holiday is
the lighting of candles. The candles are arranged in a candelabrum
called a menorah (or sometimes called a chanukkiah) that holds nine
candles: one for each night, plus a shammus (servant) at a different
height. On the first night, one candle is placed at the far right. The
shammus candle is lit and three berakhot (blessings) are recited:
l'hadlik neir (a general prayer over candles), she-asah nisim (a prayer
thanking G-d for performing miracles for our ancestors at this time),
and she-hekhianu (a general prayer thanking G-d for allowing us to reach
this time of year). See Chanukkah Candle Lighting Blessings for the full
text of these blessings. After reciting the blessings, the first candle
is then lit using the shammus candle, and the shammus candle is placed
in its holder. The candles are allowed to burn out on their own after a
minimum of 1/2 hour.Candlelighting Procedure Each night, another candle is added from right
to left (like the Hebrew language). Candles are lit from left to right
(because you pay honor to the newer thing first). On the eighth night,
all nine candles (the 8 Chanukkah candles and the shammus) are lit. See
animation at right for the candlelighting procedure. On nights after the
first, only the first two blessings are recited; the third blessing,
she-hekhianu is only recited on the first night of holidays.Why the shammus candle? The Chanukkah candles are for pleasure only; we
are not allowed to use them for any productive purpose. We keep an extra
one around (the shammus), so that if we need to do something useful with
a candle, we don't accidentally use the Chanukkah candles. The shammus
candle is at a different height so that it is easily identified as the
shammus.It is traditional to eat fried foods on Chanukkah because of the
significance of oil to the holiday. Among Ashkenazic Jews, this usually
includes latkes (pronounced "lot-kuhs" or "lot-keys" depending on where
your grandmother comes from. Pronounced "potato pancakes" if you are a
goy.) My recipe is included later in this page.Gift-giving is not a traditional part of the holiday, but has been added
in places where Jews have a lot of contact with Christians, as a way of
dealing with our children's jealousy of their Christian friends. It is
extremely unusual for Jews to give Chanukkah gifts to anyone other than
their own young children. The only traditional gift of the holiday is
"gelt," small amounts of money.Another tradition of the holiday is playing dreidel, a gambling game
played with a square top. Most people play for matchsticks, pennies,
M&Ms or chocolate coins. The traditional explanation of this game is
that during the time of Antiochus' oppression, those who wanted to study
Torah (an illegal activity) would conceal their activity by playing
gambling games with a top (a common and legal activity) whenever an
official or inspector was within sight.DreidelsA dreidel is marked with four Hebrew letters: Nun, Gimmel, Heh
and Shin. These letters stand for the Hebrew phrase "Nes Gadol Hayah
Sham", a great miracle happened there, referring to the miracle of the oil.The letters also stand for the Yiddish words nit (nothing), gantz (all),
halb (half) and shtell (put), which are the rules of the game! There are
some variations in the way people play the game, but the way I learned
it, everyone puts in one coin. A person spins the dreidel. If it lands n
Nun, nothing happens; on Gimmel (or, as we called it as kids, "gimme!"),
you get the whole pot; on Heh, you get half of the pot; and on Shin, you
put one in. When the pot is empty, everybody puts one in. Keep playing
until one person has everything. Then redivide it, because nobody likes
a poor winner.List of Dates
Chanukkah will occur on the following days of the Gregorian calendar:
* Jewish Year 5766 : sunset December 25, 2005 - nightfall January 2,
2006
(first candle: night of 12/25; last candle: night of 1/1)
* Jewish Year 5767 : sunset December 15, 2006 - nightfall December
23, 2006
(first candle: night of 12/15; last candle: night of 12/22)
* Jewish Year 5768 : sunset December 4, 2007 - nightfall December
12, 2007
(first candle: night of 12/4; last candle: night of 12/11)
* Jewish Year 5769 : sunset December 21, 2008 - nightfall December
29, 2008
(first candle: night of 12/21; last candle: night of 12/28)
* Jewish Year 5770 : sunset December 11, 2009 - nightfall December
19, 2009
(first candle: night of 12/11; last candle: night of 12/18)