From Latkes to Menorahs: Celebrating the Joy of Hanukkah

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Introduction

What is Hanukkah? Is it the Jewish Christmas? Why does it last 8 nights? And why do hundreds of Jewish families get together, exchange gifts, play dreidel, and eat delicious potato pancakes called latkes?

Although it is only considered a minor holiday by Jewish law, today, Hanukkah is one of the most celebrated Jewish holidays in the world. This is not because of any great religious significance, but because of its proximity to Christmas. Many non-Jews think of the holiday as the Jewish Christmas, but Hanukkah has much more than meets the eye.

The Story of Hanukkah

A long time ago (in 168 BCE, to be exact), King Antiochus IV ruled over ancient Israel. Not a fan of variety, he demanded that everyone worship the Greek gods and share in his culture. Antiochus raided and desecrated the Second Temple, the holiest place for Jews at the time located in Jerusalem, Israel, and abolished Judaism, offering two options: conversion or death. Angered, a family of priests called the Maccabees resisted. They led a heavily outnumbered army against Antiochous’s troops and won, reclaiming Judaism and the Temple.

Upon arrival, the Maccabees began to restore the temple, setting up the altar and relighting the menorah, a gold candelabrum with seven branches meant to be kept burning every night. As the legend goes, they wanted to relight the menorah (which used oil at the time), but, after scouring for hours, could only find enough to last one day. Although they only had enough for one day, the candles burned for eight whole nights. Thus, Hanukkah is celebrated for eight nights to commemorate the miracle. Additionally, Hanukkah menorahs have nine branches, 8 lit candles and the lighter candle, for the miracle as well.

The Menorah

A Hanukkah menorah with eight candles burning on the eight days of the Jewish holiday festival commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BCE.

Central to the holiday is the lighting of the hanukkiah, (commonly known as the menorah) an eight-branched candelabrum to which one candle is added on each night of the holiday until it is ablaze with light on the eighth night. Typically, menorahs are put on the window sills of Jewish homes to publicize the Hanukkah miracle.

Dreidel

Another tradition of the holiday is playing dreidel, a gambling game played with a square top. A dreidel is marked with four Hebrew letters: Nun (נ), Gimel (ג), Hei (ה) and Shin (ש). These letters stand for the Hebrew phrase “Nes Gadol Hayah Sham” (נֵס גָּדוֹל הָיָה שָׁם). In English, this translates to “a great miracle happened there,” referring to the miracle of the oil in ancient Israel. 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 on Nun, nothing happens; on Gimel, you get the whole pot; on Hei, you get half of the pot; and on Shin, you put one in (in addition to the one everyone puts in for the next round).

Food

In commemoration of the miracle of oil, it is traditional to eat fried foods on Hanukkah. The most famous Hanukkah foods are potato pancakes, or latkes, and the Israeli favorite, jelly donuts, or sufganiyot. Over Hanukkah thousands of families get together to make and eat these delicious foods

Gift Giving

For Jewish people around the world, Hanukkah is marked by lighting candles on the menorah for eight nights, eating latkes, and spinning the dreidel. But when the holiday starts, many Jewish Americans focus on a different tradition: gift-giving. Despite Hanukkah in America simply being seen as a gift-giving holiday, historically, presents are nowhere to be found. Gifts have no religious roots and are more Americanized due to its overlap with Christmas than anything else. Many Jewish communities today refrain from gifts as it is more of an American tradition than Jewish.