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A Traditional Look at Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights

A Traditional Look at Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights

RISMEDIA, December 15, 2006-Tonight at sundown marks the first evening of Hanukkah. Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights or Festival of Rededication, is an eight day Jewish holiday that starts on the 25th day of Kislev. The festival is observed in Jewish homes by the kindling of lights on each of the festival's eight nights, one on the first night, two on the second night and so on.

Some observed Hanukkah traditions include:

Kindling the Hanukkah Lights

The primary ritual, according to Jewish law and custom, is to light a single light each night for eight nights. As a universally-practiced "beautification" of the mitzvah, the number of lights lit is increased by one each night. An extra light called a shamash, meaning guard or servant is also lit each night, and is given a distinct location, usually higher or lower than the others, to adhere to the prohibition.

Most Jewish homes have a special candelabra or oil lamp holder for Hanukkah, which holds eight lights plus the additional shamash light. In the State of Israel, it is usually called a "chanukkiyah". Ashenazic Jews (central and east European Jews) mostly call it a "Hanukkah menorah," though chanukkiyah has become more common. By contrast, the Temple menorah, which is often used to symbolize Judaism, has six branches plus a central shaft, for a total of seven lamps.

Hanukkah lights burn for at least one half hour after it gets dark. The standard candles sold for Hanukkah burn for half an hour, so on most days this requirement can be met by lighting the candles when it is dark out.

Blessings over the candles

Typically three blessings are recited during this eight-day festival. On the first night of Hanukkah, Jews recite all three blessings, on all subsequent nights, they recite only the first two. The blessings are said before or after the candles are lit depending on tradition. On the first night of Hanukkah one light (candle, lamp, or electric) is lit on the right side of the Menorah, on the following night a second light is placed to the left of the first and is lit first proceeding from left to right, and so on each night.

Traditional Hanukkah foods

There is a custom to have Hanukkah parties and to eat foods fried or baked in oil, preferably olive oil, as the original miracle of the Hanukkah menorah involved the discovery of the small flask of oil used by the Jewish High Priest (the Kohen Gadol). Many families make potato pancakes, known as latkes in Yiddish. Many have the custom to eat all kinds of doughnuts (bimuelos or sufganiyot) which are deep-fried in oil.

Hanukkah games

The dreidel (a four-sided spinning top) is associated with Hanukkah. It has four sides, each engraved with a different Hebrew letter. These letters are an acronym for the Hebrew words, נס גדול היה שם, Nes Gadol Haya Sham-"A great miracle happened there."

The dreidel is the centerpiece of a game which is often played after the lighting of the Hanukkah menorah, to keep the children interested during the short time the candles are burning. Each player starts out with 10 or 15 coins, nuts or other markers, and places one marker into the "pot". The first player spins the dreidel, which lands with one of its symbols facing up, indicating the appropriate action to be taken, corresponding to one of the Yiddish words marked on one of the four sides.

The dreidel game is played in part to commemorate a game that the Jews under Greek domination played to camouflage their Torah study. Greeks made a law forbidding the study of Torah, the Jews would gather in caves to engage in learning. A lookout was posted to alert the group to the presence of Greek soldiers; if he spotted them, he would give a signal and the Jews would hide their scrolls and begin playing with spinning tops (dreidels) and coins. This ruse gave the impression that they were engaged in gambling, not learning.

Hanukkah gelt

Hanukkah gelt (Yiddish for "money") is often distributed to children to enhance their enjoyment of the holiday. The amount is usually in small coins, although grandparents or other relatives may give larger sums as an official Hanukkah gift.

Twentieth-century American chocolatiers picked up on the gift/coin concept by creating chocolate gelt, or chocolate shaped and stamped like coins and wrapped in gold or silver foil. Chocolate gelt is often used in place of money in dreidel games.

Hanukkah today

In recent years, an amalgam of Christmas and Hanukkah has emerged - dubbed "Chrismukkah" - celebrated by some mixed-faith families, particularly in the United States. A decorated tree has come to be called a "Hanukkah bush".

Though it was traditional to give "gelt" or money coins to children during Hanukkah, in many families this has changed into gifts in order to prevent Jewish children from feeling "left out" of the Christmas gift giving.

These secular traditions are not a traditional part of the Hanukkah observance, and are often frowned upon by more observant and traditionally-minded Jews.

Source: wikipedia.org.

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