Why Hanukkah
Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah) is the winter “festival of lights,” celebrated by nightly candle lighting, special blessings, and eating tasty foods. Holiday traditions and observance vary by different origins and sects of Judaism.
In the second century BCE, Judea was invaded by a Seleucid king who tried to force the Jews to adopt Greek culture and beliefs. The Jewish priest Judah the Maccabee led his outnumbered and poorly armed people to defeat the far more powerful Seleucid army and reclaim the Holy temple in Jerusalem. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Hanukkah is a festival that “reaffirms the ideals of Judaism and commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple of Jerusalem.”
How is it observed?
The festival is observed by lighting the candles of a candelabrum with nine branches, commonly called a menorah or hanukkiah. One branch is typically placed above or below the others and its candle is used to light the other eight candles. This unique candle is called the shammash (שַׁמָּשׁ, “attendant”). Each night, one additional candle is lit by the shammash until all eight candles are lit together on the final night of the festival.
Of note is the fact that according to the Britannica, although the traditional practice of lighting candles at Hanukkah was not established in the books of the Maccabees, the custom most likely started relatively early. The practice is enshrined in the Talmud (Shabbat 21b), which describes the miracle of the oil in the Temple. According to the Talmud, when Judas Maccabeus entered the Temple, he found only a small jar of oil that had not been defiled by Antiochus. The jar contained only enough oil to burn for one day, but miraculously the oil burned for eight days until new consecrated oil could be found, establishing the precedent that the festival should last eight days. The early date for this story or at least the practice of lighting eight candles is confirmed by the debate of the 1st-century-ce scholars Hillel and Shammai. Hillel and his school taught that one candle should be lit on the first night of Hanukkah and one more each night of the festival. Shammai held that all eight candles should be lit the first night, with the number decreasing by one each night thereafter.
What special foods, games or other activities are observed during Hanukkah?
Hanukkah is a joyous festival that lacks the work restrictions characteristic of the major festivals of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
Hanukkah festivities include singing Hanukkah songs, playing the game of dreidel, Potato pancakes (latkes), doughnuts (sufganiyot), and other treats fried in oil, which recall the miracle of the oil, are popular. Children receive presents and gifts of money (Hanukkah gelt), which is sometimes distributed in the form of chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil. Card playing is common, and children play a game with a four-sided top called a dreidel (Hebrew sevivon). On each side of the top is a Hebrew letter, which forms the initials of the words in the phrase nes gadol haya sham, meaning “a great miracle happened there.” In modern Israel the letters of the dreidel were changed to reflect the translation “a great miracle happened here.” and eating oil-based foods, such as latkes and sufganiyot, and dairy foods.
Since the 1970s, the worldwide Chabad Hasidic movement has initiated public menorah lighting in open public places in many countries.