When is Chanukah? This year Chanukkah starts at sundown on Thursday, December 7, 2023 and ends the evening of Friday, December 15, 2023.
Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, (also called Chanuka and Hannakuh) celebrates the victory from Greek religious persecution. The Jewish victory was led by the Macabees in the year 167 B.C. Upon returning to the temple to rededicate it and relight the Menorah, the Macabees found only one small flask of oil, enough to light the Menorah for just one day. However, the flask of oil lasted eight days; this is why the celebration lasts for eight days. This is also the reason that it is called the Festival of Lights.
Chanukah is a happy and joyous festivity. There is no fasting, no eulogies, and no sacrifice. Small gifts are given to family and friends each of the eight days of Chanukah.
Chanukah is the Jewish eight-day, wintertime “festival of lights,” celebrated with a nightly menorah lighting, special prayers and fried foods. Since the Chanukah miracle involved oil, it is customary to eat foods fried in oil. The Eastern-European classic is the potato latke (pancake) garnished with applesauce or sour cream, and the reigning Israeli favorite is the jelly-filled sufganya (doughnut).
On Chanukah, it is customary to play with a “dreidel” (a four-sided spinning top bearing the Hebrew letters, nun, gimmel, hei, and shin, an acronym for nes gadol hayah sham, “a great miracle happened there”). The game is usually played for a pot of coins, nuts, or other stuff, which is won or lost, based on which letter the dreidel lands when it is spun.
Today, people tend to place great importance on giving Chanukah gifts. However, the tradition is actually to give Chanukah gelt, gifts of money, to children. In addition to rewarding positive behavior and devotion to Torah study, the cash gifts give the children the opportunity to give tzedakah (charity). This has also spawned the phenomenon of foil-covered “chocolate gelt.”
The Hebrew word Chanukah means “dedication,” and is thus named because it celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple. Also spelled Hanukkah (or variations of that spelling), the Hebrew word is actually pronounced with a guttural, “kh” sound, kha-nu-kah, not tcha-new-kah.
See page 21 for a recipe for Potato Latkes to enjoy on Chanukkah.
Chanukkah history is courtesy of holidayinsights.com and Chabad.org
