Hanukkah is called “The Festival of Lights”, and is a happy holiday in the Jewish tradition. It is considered among the smaller holidays. It does celebrate a powerful experience, however, the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after it had been seized and defiled by the Hellenic Syrians in 165 BCE. The word Hanukkah means “dedication”.)

The story:

The conquering Syrians had forbidden all Jewish worship, and had defiled the temple. A band of Jews led by Mattathias took to the hills of Judea in open revolt. When Mattathias died, his son Judah took charge of the army. . He was called "the Maccabee" ("the hammer"). Thousands of troops were sent to Israel to crush the rebellion, but the Maccabees drove the invaders out. Following their victory, the Maccabees re-entered the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, cleansed it and dedicated it anew to God. However, they were unable to find enough undefiled oil to light the lamps. In one of the Temple chambers, they had located only a small container of oil which, under normal circumstances, would last for one night. Miraculously, this oil kept the Temple lights burning, not for one night, but for all the eight nights until new oil fit for use in the Temple could be obtained. This why Hanukkah is commemorated with the lighting of lights for eight nights.

The Menorah:
The menorah is the special candelabra used for Hanukkah. It has places for nine candles. The center candle (or candle in highest position) is called the "shamash" (which means the servant), and is used to light each of the other candles every night. Therefore, on the first night of Hanukkah, two candles are lit (the shamash and the candle for the first night) and on the last night, there are nine lit candles.

The Dreidel
This is a four sided top used in a gambling game by children at Hannukah. Each side of the top bears a Hebrew letter standing for the phrase a “great miracle happened there”. The letters are different in Jerusalem. There they stand for a “great miracle happened here” Children will gamble for candies or Hannukah “gelt” (Yiddish for money – coins of chocolate covered with gold foil).

The food
Because this is a holiday about a miracle with oil, the special foods served are cooked in oil -- potato pancakes and jelly donuts being two time-honored favorites.

Hanukkah is not “Jewish Christmas” in any way. It is its own beautiful holiday with its own very distinct tradition. In America the tradition of giving eight small gifts during the week has become more pronounced than in other countries because of the emotional proximity of the two holidays for children, but the emphasis is not on gifts or excess, rather on family festivity and joy.

Please tell us about your Hanukkah. Have you made special plans? Do you have special memories to share?

May this be a very happy Hanukkah for all of you who celebrate this holiday!

Central Snark filed an amusing entry about the spellings of this holiday, called “Chanukah/Hanukah/Channukah/Chanukkah-oy-vay!”

Alto Artist in her blog, On Chanting, walks down a Manhattan street and has visions of Menorah dancing in her head.

The Velveteen Rabbi provides a commentary on why there are 8 days in this holiday, using the Kaballah and teachings on the significance of numbers.