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Jewish Holidays:
Hannukah - Chanukah


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The story of Chanukah begins in the reign of Alexander the Great. Alexander conquered Syria, Egypt and Judea, but allowed the people under his control to continue observing their own religions and retain a certain degree of autonomy. Under this relatively benevolent rule, many Jews assimilated, adopting much of Hellenistic culture, including the language, customs, dress, etc., in much the same way that Jews in America today blend into the secular American society.






Blessed are You, our God, Creator of time and space, who enriches our lives with holiness, commanding us to kinkle the Chanukah lights.
Baruch atah adonai eloheinu melech ha'olam asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu l'hadlik neir shel Chanukah.
Blessed are You, our God, Creator of time and space, who performs miracles for our ancestors, in the days of long ago and in this time.
Baruch atah adonai eloheinu melech ha'olam she'asah nisim la'avoteinu bayamim haheim baz'man hazeh.

On the first night, the Shehecheyanu blessing is also recited.

Why the shamash candle? The Chanukah candles are for pleasure only; we are not allowed to use them for any productive purpose. We keep an extra one around (the shamash), so that if we need to do something useful with a candle, we don't accidentally use the Chanukah candles. The shamash candle is at a different height so that it is easily identified as the shamash.


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 children’s jealousy of their Christian friends. The only traditional gift of the holiday is “gelt,” small amounts of money. Chanukah gelt is a Jewish custom rooted in the Talmud: “The Talmud states that even a very poor person must light Chanukah lights, even if he can’t afford it. A person with no money is required to go ‘knocking on doors’ until he collects enough to buy at least one candle for each night of Chanukah. The Torah concept of charity -- tzedakah -- requires us to help the recipient in the most dignified manner possible. Therefore, the custom arose to give gifts of money during Chanukah so that someone who needs extra money for Chanukah candles can receive it in the form of ‘Chanukah Gelt.’”


This supposedly stands for the Hebrew phrase “nes gadol hayah sham,” a great miracle happened there. Actually, it stands for the Yiddish words nit (nothing), gantz (all), halb (half) and shtell (put), which is 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. On 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.

A traditional song of this holiday is “Maoz Tzur,” better known to Christians as “Rock of Ages” (the tune is the same as one of the more popular ones; the Christian translation takes substantial liberties).

Sources: Judaism 101 and Cardin, Rabbi Nina Beth. The Tapestry of Jewish Time. NJ: Behrman House, 2000. Ohr Somayach

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