Spirituality

HOLIDAY 10

Chanukah At A Glance

The Jewish triumph over pagan worship.

Elizabeth Applebaum
Special to the Jewish News

W

hen: From sundown Sunday,
Dec. 21, until sundown
Monday, Dec. 29. On the
Jewish calendar, Chanukah begins on the
25th of Kislev.

• Why We Celebrate: Chanukah marks
the victory of the Jews, led by members
of the priestly Hasmonean family (espe-
cially Judah Maccabee), over the Greco-
Syrians (Seleucids) in 164 B.C.E. The
Seleucids severely repressed the practice
of Judaism. They tried to force the Jews to
accept paganism and converted the Jewish
Temple in Jerusalem into a house of pagan
worship.
The Hasmoneans went to war against
the Seleucids, defeated them, liberated
Jerusalem and restored the Temple and its
altar.
Chanukah is the Hebrew word for
"dedication" and comes from the phrase,
chanukat ha-mizbay-ach, "dedication of
the altar," or chanukat ha-bayit, "dedica-
tion of the house" (i.e., the Temple). The
Talmud relates that when the priests
arrived for the daily lighting of the Temple
menorah, they found that only one jar of
olive oil, with the priestly seal intact, had
survived the onslaught. Instead of burning
up in one day, the oil lasted for eight days
until the priests could prepare more oil.
Viewed as a sign of divine approbation for
the efforts of the Hasmoneans, the rabbis
ruled that henceforward Jews would kin-
dle lights for eight days to commemorate
the rescue of Judaism and the Temple.

• How To Celebrate: Kindle lights (oil is
preferable, but most people use candles) in
a menorah (also known as a chanukiyah).
Light candles progressively each night:
one the first night, two the second and so
on. On Friday evening (Dec. 26), light the
candles on the menorah before those for
Shabbat. The Chanukah light must be suf-
ficient to burn 30 minutes into Shabbat;
if your Chanukah candles are not long
enough, try using Shabbat candles (of
course, you'll have to have a menorah in
which the thick Shabbat candles will fit).
You may have one menorah for the
entire household or one for each member
of the family. It all depends on your family
tradition. If you have guests, they also can

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December 18 • 2008

light their own menorahs, if that is their
custom (in fact, some people bring their
own).

• Rules and Regulations: The point
of having lights is pirsumey nisah, an
Aramaic phrase that means "publicize
the miracle," either to the world or within
one's own household. Thus, the Chanukah
lights should be set up in such a way that
an observer can easily tell the day of the
holiday (this is why traditional menorahs
are designed with the candle holders in a
straight line).
Modern menorahs may display the can-
dles in a variety of ways, which is accept-
able, so long as the design doesn't cause
confusion. Chanukah lights do not have
to be in a menorah, and it is permissible
to place them in individual holders that
are lined up. It is preferable to place the
menorah in a window facing the street for
the sake of pirsumey nisah, but the meno-
rah also may be within the house away
from windows, where it can be observed
only by members of the household.
Although the major observance of the
holiday is at home, traditionally we light
Chanukah candles in the synagogue, as
well.
Except on Shabbat, Chanukah lights
must be lit after sundown only. The lights
may not be used for anything other than
display, which means you should not read
by them, light cigarettes or other candles
with them, or use them in any other way.
Unlike the major Jewish holidays,
Chanukah is not considered sacred time
and thus has no restrictions on the use of
electricity, vehicles, money, etc. There is
a tradition, however, that women refrain
from household work while the candles
are burning.

• Rituals: A blessing is said before lighting
and a prayer after lighting. The daily ser-
vice includes Al HaNisim in the Amidah
(silent, standing prayer) and in Birkat
HaMazon (grace after meals); the full
Hallel prayer is recited each day. In the
synagogue, there is a Torah reading for
each day (Numbers 7-8:4); four persons
are called up.
Chanukah straddles two Jewish months,
Kislev and Tevet. The sixth and seventh
days of Chanukah are also Rosh Chodesh
Kislev (the first of the month) and
includes an additional Torah reading.

On Shabbat, the
weekly Torah por-
tion is read along
with a maftir for
Chanukah. A spe-
cial haftorah for
Chanukah is recited
(Zechariah 2:14-
4:7), in which the
prophet describes
a golden menorah
flanked by olive
trees, representing
restored Jewish sov-
ereignty under the
rule of Torah.

• Customs And
Traditions: After
lighting the candles,
we sing the hymn
"Maoz Tzur," and
some people also
recite or sing Psalm
30 (many people add Psalm 30 to their
morning davening).
Because the miracle of Chanukah
involved oil, Jews over the centuries devel-
oped the custom of eating foods prepared
in or with oil. Thus, Ashkenazi Jews eat
potato pancakes (latkes) fried in oil.
Depending on what part of Europe your
family came from, the latke recipe will dif-
fer. Polish Jews eat latkes made from pota-
toes only, sprinkled with sugar. Russian
Jews add onions to the potatoes and top
them with sour cream. German Jews like
applesauce as a side dish.
Why pancakes made of potatoes?
Potatoes were harvested late in the year
and were plentiful and cheap. Israelis (and
many Americans) eat jelly doughnuts
(sufganiot), also fried in oil. Children play
dreidl, a spinning top inscribed with a
Hebrew letter on each of four sides. The
game is played for chocolate coins, candy
or nuts. Each player takes a turn at spin-
ning, and depending on which Hebrew
letter turns up when the dreidl stops, the
player either gets or gives to the pot.

• Events associated with Chanukah:
The story of Judith and Holofernes, and
also the story of Hannah and her seven
sons. Judith is found in the Book of Judith;
Hannah comes from the Second Book
Maccabees. Both are part of the Jewish
Apocrypha, books of Jewish origin that

were not accepted in the Tanach (Jewish
Bible).

• How to Spell the Holiday: There is an
ongoing debate about the proper way to
transliterate the Hebrew chaf nun, vav,
kaf, heh. For most of the 20th century, the
English-speaking world resorted to trans-
literating Hebrew according to German
(long the language of scholarship) and
spelled the holiday as Chanukah. Others
dropped the final h to make Chanuka.
Later, some thought the ch was confus-
ing and used the spelling Hanukah (or
Hanuka). Others proposed to double the
k (because in Hebrew the correspond-
ing letter contains a dot) and produced
Hanuk k a (or Hanukkah or Chanukkah or
Chanukka). There is no single correct way
to spell the holiday and eventually you will
encounter all these spellings (and prob-
ably others).

• Chanukah and Christmas: Because
Chanukah almost always comes out in
December, and sometimes coincides
directly with Christmas, some people
have come to think of Chanukah as Jewish
Christmas. Aside from the timing, the hol-
idays have nothing in common. Although
some people think of Chanukah as a gift-
giving holiday, exchanging presents on
Chanukah is not from Jewish tradition; it
is a practice copied from Christmas. ..72