The month of December has many great holidays, there’s Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Sinterklaas. But what is Hanukkah? Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday with 24 different spellings.
Hanukkah is the holiday of light, commemorating the miracle of light that occurred when Judah rededicated the Temple to the Hebrew God. According to the Talmud (one of Judaism’s holy texts), the Seleucids left only one intact vial of oil, just enough to light the Temple’s candelabrum for one day.
During Hanukkah, Jews light one candle every day, adding one more candle to the menorah each night. We light one candle more each night. the shamash, the candle in the middle of the menorah that is higher than the rest. The shamash is used to light all the rest of the candles and is known as the helper.
Other Hanukkah traditions involve playing dreidel, opening one present each night, eating latkes and matzo ball soup, and lighting candles. Dreidel is a fun game where you spin a dreidel and what it lands on determines how much gelt (chocolate money) or paper money you obtain. For example, you get half of the betting pile if you land on Chai or Hay, all of it if you land on Gimel, none if you land on Nun, and if you land on Shin you get two. All of these Hebrew letters translate to “A miracle happened there” if you buy a dreidel that comes from Israel or Jerusalem it translates to “A miracle happened here”. There is a song made for the game as well.
Overall, Hanukkah is a fun holiday celebrated on a different week every year because it follows the Hebrew calendar which keeps time using the moon.
