Chanukah is coming!

[suzubeane]

Seems early to talk about Chanukah, but since I saw dreidles in the drug store today … ;)

Last Christmastime, many people expressed a desire to know when the more significant Jewish Holidays were since many non-Jews in the U.S. know mostly about Chanukah, a relatively minor one. I've been contributing synopses that describe many of them, and it seems fitting to include Chanukah – the one that started these "PSAs for friends of Jews."

Chanukah begins this year - 2007 - on Tuesday night, December 4th; it lasts eight nights. Chanukah commemorates the earliest recorded struggle for religious freedom – the victory won by a small, poorly armed yet spiritually strong band of resistance fighters (The Macabees) over the Greco-Syrian King Antiochus IV and his army.

Under King Antiochus, Jews had been oppressed and prohibited from practicing their religion. After the Maccabees reclaimed their Holy Temple in Jerusalem, cleared it of Greek symbols, statues, and sacrificial alters, they purified and rededicated it on the 25th day of the month of Kislev in 164 BCE, which from then on would be celebrated as Chanukah ("Dedication.")

According to legend, when the Maccabees were preparing the Holy Temple for re-dedication, they discovered that the Greco-Syrians had defiled the oil which was used to Temple's menorah. (The standard 7 branch candelabrum – not the 9 branch one used on Chanukah.) As the story goes, a small ration of ritually pure oil they had should have lasted one day, but instead lasted the entire time it took to create more – eight days. This is one explanation for the eight day length of the holiday, and the reason we light candles in a Chanukah menorah each night of the holiday.

More information at Judaism 101 (http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm)

What to do: If you want to know more about how your Jewish friends observe Chanukah, ask them. See if you can get invited to a Chanukah party or latke (potato pancake) meal.

What to say: "Happy Chanukah!" Chanukah is not a "season" the way Christmastime is, so you probably would not say this until just before or during the holiday. Or you might say "Have a happy Chanukah" when it gets close. You would not continue to say it after Chanukah is over, the way some people continue say "Happy Holidays" after Christmas.

What else: Your Jewish friends will probably not miss work for Chanukah. Some families enjoy large celebrations, but many will not expect relatives to travel from far-flung places as one might for Christmas, Thanksgiving or Passover (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18231).

Some Jews have adopted the card-sending tradition popular for Christmas, but many do not consider it a card-sending holiday like Rosh Hashanah. (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25006)

Traditions. It is customary for Jews to eat fried foods on Chanukah – potato pancakes, jelly donuts (Sufganiot) - these call to mind the legend of the oil.

Chanukah is a gift-giving holiday for children in the U.S., but not everywhere else. Some families give "big ticket gifts" but many try to give small items each night, or "gelt" (coins) to children. Depending on a family's tradition, adults may give gifts, too, but many do not.

Dreidle is a spinning top game played on Chanukah. Some people think the game was modeled after a spinning top game that Jews pretended to play during Antiochus' reign, when in reality they were gathering to discuss and study Judaism.

The dreidle is a four-sided top with one letter written on each side; the game is explained all over the 'net … here's one site. (http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Hanukkah/TO_Hanukkah_Home/Dreidel/Dreidel_Rules_357.htm)

Interesting fact: Apparently there is reason to believe that what was later interpreted as eight days of Chanukah was actually eight days of Sukkot (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25760) being observed late that year. Sukkot – a harvest holiday – could not be celebrated during wartime. Sukkot went back to being celebrated in the fall, and Chanukah remained an eight day holiday.

Please feel free to ask questions, provide links, make corrections, clarifications, etc. My favorite part about posting these PSAs has been reading the questions and personal sentiments about the holidays that other post.

Edited to add links to the threads on the major Jewish holidays:
Rosh Hashanah (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25006)
Yom Kippur (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25408)
Sukkot (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25760)
Simchat Torah (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25799)
Passover (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18231)

[miel]

Yay Chanukah!!! Chanukah is so much fun for us and it is somehow amped up through the year because we have about 6 children's books about Chanukah that my daughter reads periodically. One she really loves partly because she thinks the parents look like me and her dad. Seriously, we are stocked for Chanukah books and she has another one with a dreidel in the spine that spins. She went nuts when we actually lit the menorah last year. Having read about lighting a menorah at least once a week for an entire year!

And now I remember that it is the only Jewish holiday (or holiday, period--we didn't even do Thanksgiving!) my lazy immediate family celebrates. God, we're like the anti-tradition family. We're like Chinese Communists during the cultural revolution. Yet, how I love the absence of birthdays, Christmas and every other possible celebration or event in our lives. To be honest, we just forget. We forget about Fourth of July and Black Friday and would forget Christmas if anyone would let us.

At least we do Chanukah! That's a start I guess! Kids probably need tradition so we should work on this issue.

Oh, I forgot Halloween. We did do Halloween.

[suzubeane]

What? Black Friday is a Holiday now? :p

Your reference to the Fourth of July reminded me of something Chanukah-related (in my mind, anyway.) My mother used to use July Fourth to explain Chanukah's meaning (military victory) and magnitude (in comparison to other holidays, that is.) Pretty good analogy, I think.

[miel]

That is a good analogy--I'll remember it for my daughter when she gets old enough to understand things like that. I guess one thing about Chanukah is that it also brings out ideas of faith and hope and courage. But for now it's all about dreidles and gelt and lighting candles. We might give her a present on the last day and I always give husband socks because I just find that amusing. He's always genuinely happy to get the socks! For some reason we go through socks like crazy in this house. But I don't like the present each day thing since then it takes away from the enjoyment of the rest and just puts the focus on that.

[salysaturn]

We celebrate it as well :) DH is Jewish, and I enjoy hearing about different families and what they do.

[GoCougs]

Thanks for this synopsis. I always enjoy reading them!

[Liz]

Thank you for sharing! I always like a reminder of what to do for my Jewish friends. I don't want to say something wrong so it helps to know what to say! I appreciate you starting this thread.

[shoegal]

Thank you for sharing! In my lifetime, I have had a handful of Jewish friends and enjoy learning their culture and religion. I was very blessed to grow up in a forward thinking church that encouraged us to ask about different faiths. The one thing I regret was not going to temple then.

By the way, I too did not know that Black Friday was considered a holiday. I consider it more of a sporting event, it is always fun to watch grown adults fight over items that have been marked down a couple of bucks. . .

[miel]

Oh yeah, Black Friday is not a holiday! I only put that in because we are so out of touch that we actually did not know about it until this Saturday when someone asked us if we went shopping on Friday and we thought that was such a weird question!

[Eliezrah]

Yippee for Hanukkah! I love this holiday!

[miel]

OK, I really need to make latkes and stuff this time!!! Who is going to do that?

[Eliezrah]

I'm not making any at home (I'm on crutches so it's not easy for me to get around) but tomorrow we're going to the Hebrew Academy (where Jackie is starting pre school in aobut 3 weeks) for their Chanukah celebration. They'll be reading a story, doing a craft and cooking with the kids, so I'm assuming they'll be making latkes. Jackie's getting all excited about it!!!

[Renrel]

I invited one of DC friends from preschool to come over Friday night night for a "cultural exchange." We are supposed to go to their home for some kind of Christmas event, though what has not been decided. So last night I made some oven fried potato latkas, tonight I make the parsip ones and Thursday night Spinach. I will try to pick up some real sufgonot from a Jewish bakery, if not I will pick up some plain old donuts. Not sure what else we will serve, other than sour cream and apples sauce of course. Probable just order in pizza since we will be hard pressed to get all the fun stuff done before the kids crash given that its a work/school day for use all. I do wish I could think of something else that was dairy, kid friends and more of a celebration/holiday dish.

[jenjunum]

I made some latkes a couple weekends ago to take to a holiday party where we were encouraged to bring something to represent our traditions (it was a very multicultural group where the non-Christmas celebraters outnumbered the Christmas celebraters).

We're having our family get-together on Saturday night and we'll open gifts even though we're all adults now. I'll also be teaching my MIL how to make latkes from actual potatoes rather than from a box.

[miel]

Jenjen--if it's not too much trouble could you clue us in to this. I kind of imagine myself making hash browns.

My MIL is queen of the kitchen and even makes homemade gefilte fish so she would know too. But if there are any tips you have, maybe send them our way? MIL's recipe is likely to be scary and hard.

Kugel would also be great on C-kah even if it is probably not a C-kah dish. I'm not crazy about kugel myself but it smells holidayish and is festive and stuff. DH makes it.

[suzubeane]

Reposted from Jewish group thread (I originally posted it last year ...)

Latkes are just grated potatoes, salt, some egg, some grated onion, and something to bind it all together like Mazto Meal. Of course you need oil - I use a light veg oil. I like to grate the potatoes and salt them, then let them sit in a colander so all the water is expelled and drips out. Mix the other ingredients, and then go.

I like to have more than one pan going. Heat the oil, and drop the latkes in. I always make the mistake of making them too dense at the start. They really can be quite "lacy" plus then you're sure the potato cooks all the way through.

You can make some in advance, and then put them on cookie sheets with paper towels in the oven to stay warm while you're making the rest.

If you need exact proportions of the ingredients, I'm sure there are recipes on the net. Let us know how they come out. :).

[charliezangel]

Although this will be our 5th Holiday Season together, DH has never really experienced hannukah. For one reason or another, it just hasn't happened (I think work has been the issue). So this year, I am making a hannukah "feast" on Friday night and we will light the candles when he gets home from work (after sunset, but better late than never, right?) I'll be making lattkes, baked chicken and will probably make fried apple rings or something. Then we're going to get our christmas tree, lol. I love having a blended family!!!

[miel]

Suz When thinking latkes I was thinking: Can I just make hash browns? That's pretty close to hash browns!

What else is on your menu this coming week?

[sue-bert]

We usually serve all sorts of fried foods on Hanukkah. Today at work the cafeteria had a buffet style pre-Hanukkah festive lunch. It included fried chicken, eggrolls, fried rice, latkes, and sufganiot. What a combo! Luckily there were also a zillion salads and other less greasy fare.

[Renrel]

I was just thinking the other day that it is strange that Fried Chicken has not become a Hanuka tradition here in the US. Maybe it is in the South? I think I may look for some frozen apple fritters in the store, I used to love them as a kid but now the are too greasy. This is just the time to break out the grease, even if my latka are actually pretty low grease since they are oven fried, not pan fried. They are quite good though, if I do say so myself. Some year they have been the favorite at parties where both were served.

[meatpie]

If anyone has a Trader Joe's nearby they carry no-fry frozen latkes and they are very, very good!!

[miel]

If anyone has a Trader Joe's nearby they carry no-fry frozen latkes and they are very, very good!!

YEAH BABY. I'm all about the easy and the frozen.

Meatpie--is that a picture of you?

[Renrel]

Spent last night getting ready for one family to join us for Chanuaka tonight. Baked up the curried parnsip latkas, pulled out all our dradles to make a centerpiece in a crystal bowl, wrappped two matching presents for the kids, each with a bag of chocolet gelt, a dradle and a chanukal chocolet lollypop. And finally cleared off all the accumulated junk off of the table the manorahs will go on. There have been pots of dead plants there since last summer :o as well as the mantel (which still had last year's holiday cards on it.) Our friend's may still think we did nothing to clean or neated for them, given the state of mess we tend to live in, but I feel good that some of our clutter was actually thrown out or at least moved. That is my chanuka present. :p I bought DS a battery operated manorah this year that plays an appoproiate chanuka song. I hope he likes it. He will help me light the real candle ones (one day I will get an oil one, I think I had one once but I have no idea where it ended up) but this one he can carry where ever he wants and keep in his room as a night light if he wants.

[meatpie]

Miel - Nah, that's not me. I'm a closet pageant fanatic/ex-sportswriter and it's a running joke because no one would ever expect me to love pageants.

[Eliezrah]

OMg, Ren, your talking about the battery menorah reminded me i need to get out my electric one!!!

My mom made allergen-free latkes for us today (meaning no onions or eggs, rice flour instead of regular flour and corn oil) and they taste pretty good! I'm so excited for the kids to try them!! I love this holiday and now I get to share it with the kids! YIPPEE!!!

[suzubeane]

For janey and anyone interested, I just posted links to the other Jewish Holiday threads in the OP of this one. :)

[Janey]

Nice! Thanks Suz. So, I have two questions:
1) How is it decided which day it is when Chanukah begins? Is it always "Third Friday in December," or something else?
2) Is there a preferred spelling? I think I've seen about 85 different ones. ;)

[jenjunum]

Chanukah always starts on the same day in the Jewish calendar. The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar (the US calendar is not).

All Hewbrew words are just transliterated so you can really spell them hoever you want. My husband's preference is to start Chanukah with a C so we always have to look for cards with it spelled that way. Sometimes 1 'n' sometimes 2.

[miel]

Very cute...my daughter is learning all the songs and singing them by herself. She's even more into the candle lighting this year.

[Renrel]

I am thrilled the DS, 3yr old, is as into the candle lighting, lotkas and draidles as the presents. Immediately after lighting the candles he tells us we have to play draidle (since this was the order of events the first couple of nights it must now continue). I just wish there was enough time on a weeknight to let him start getting bored of the draidles before I pull out a present. As it was last night he was in bed and tucked in until close to 10pm. He also has learned alot of the basic trivia of chanuka - 8 night, the letters on the draidle, the name of the helper candle, the words to the popular songs and a few not so popular ones. I think it will take a couple of years to really understand the idea of the maccabees winning against the greeks since the whole Idea of war, battles, fighting is foreign to him. The chanuka books are the first ones where he sees pictures of swords and solders and the like. This is a kid who complains when he sees a kid get the ball away from another kid in a game of Soccer because "its not nice to take away a toy that someone is still playing with." So even friendly competions are beyond his conception at this point.

[Eliezrah]

Ren, that's so great!! Jackie is the same way. Every day, all day, all I hear is "when are we lighting the candles?" The second DH walks in the door, "Daddy, it's Hanukkah, light the candles!" I love seeing her beginning to understand!

[Renrel]

I have been really amazed that DS has not once asked for a present unless I brought it up. (The other day he wanted to continue playing a game after dinner and I told him there was time to either continue playing or get a chanuka present, so he started talking about getting the present.) I have been amazed but I still expect there to be a bit of a crisis on Saturday, Sunday and Monday when there are suddenly no more presents. But I think the extra family time,with us all lighting manorahs, playing draidle and opening and playing with a new present is more important to him right now than the actually presents. He has not really talked about his presents at all, though he has impressed me with saying thank you on the phone each night to which ever relative gave a gift. I was pretty amused last night when he was showing his mima the present she got him by holding the phone out to the FP3 player and saying See? But at least she could hear it and was able to sing along for a couple of chanuka songs.

Anyone who decides to do an FP3 player or the like next year, I wish I had thought in advance to get a personalized DVD with DS name on it to load as well as planned in advance to put chanuka songs on it. I did put songs on it, but I was very rushed and did not necessarily make the best choices of ones to load, not bad choices, but if I had done this a week ago instead of the night before I would have gotten it just right. Anyway, it is possible to make it a very "chanukaish" gift by what you load into it.

[Eliezrah]

What's an FP3 player? I'm assuming it's some sort of MP3 player for kids? Jackie does ask for gifts, but only after we light the menorah, since that's when we do gifts. I'm alos curious to see how she reacts after Hanukkah is over!

[Renrel]

An FP3 player is a toddler MP3 like thing. Very durable and only a few buttons so it is easy to operate.

I was very impressed. Last night we did not give DS a present, since the gifts from the aunts and uncles had not arrived. He did not even notice, let alone complain that there was no gift. He was mostly excited about playing draidle with DH and I and about choosing which candle colors to use. And he did a very impressive job with the blessing last night. I myself can only do the second blessing with DH's help and DS was doing it more on his own than I was. I did not know whether to be excessively proud or excessively embarassed.

[miel]

Ren--G sounds like such a sweetie.

We need to learn more Chanukah songs! We've been making up our own words at this point.

[Renrel]

Meil -
We purchased to CD this year. One by Shira Kline, I forget the name that is very child friendly and has the brochas on it as well as traditional and not so traditional kids songs. The other I is called, Chanuka Celebration, I think and is made up of songs by various Jewish artists, including the Bearnaked ladies, the beetnicks (sp), Marc Cohn and Woodie Guntrie. There are a few really good ones on here that I would listen to even if it were not chanuka.

[Eliezrah]

We did a search on ITUnes for Hanukkah songs and found some great ones, including the Bearnaked Ladies one!

[miel]

Thanks Renrel! We'll get it for next year.

Anyway, we had so much fun this year. We missed the last night because we were traveling. And she found the present I hid when she went downstairs with her papa to do the laundry!!!

[suzubeane]

Bumping for 2007

[Eliezrah]

Woo hooo! 1 week to go! LOL Of course we have Jackie's 4th bday tomorrow and her party on Sunday to worry about first! LOL

Her school is doing the cutest thing today... the 8th graders go to Israel every year and fundraise most of the $ themselves. So this year they asked every family to donate 1 item per family and today we sent in $1 per family member so the kids could go shopping at the Hanukkah Bazaar! We donated 4 Disney video tapes and sent Jackie in with $4 today (she wants to buy for the new baby as well). I can't wait to see what she comes home with this afternoon! It's her first shopping trip on her own! LOL

What are you guys doing for gifts this year with all the recalls? We got the kids some DVDs, books, games, etc.

[suzubeane]

Lisa, I also have a child whose birthday is somewhat near Chanukah, which is good for me, since my family's tradition is to save the "bigger ticket" gifts for birthdays, and keep Chanukah family low key. She'll get some Jewelry, some books and music, etc. She's turning 12, so too old to be affected by the toy recalls, but I always encourage people to support synagogue gift shops and JCCs for some of their Chanukah gifts. They get a little cut of whatever you spend.

My son is too old for gifts (in my family we just gift the kids) so he's getting gelt in the form of GCs to his college's bookstore. My whole family is doing this for him, so he he'll have a really good headstart for books next semester. Plus I suppose he can get other stuff there, too.

[ysolde]

Hehe. I still get my friends gelt. Good gelt. Godiva gelt. It's a sort of tradition among us.

[suzubeane]

Chanukah starts tonight! Wish your Jewish friends a Happy Chanukah!

Ysolde, I did look for Godiva Gelt this year to send my son at college, but I couldn't find any. ('course I didn't look too hard - I avoid malls this time of year. :o.)

[Standrea]

Happy Chanukah!

[Eliezrah]

Ohh Godiva!! Don't talk to a PG lady about chocolate! LOL

Jackie just got home from pre school with our Hanukkah gift.. a menorah she made and a box of those fancy candles! I cant wait to light her menorah tonight! I'm now trying to find a recipe for latkes that's allergen free for Seth, but I doubt I will since he's allergic to eggs (among other things).

Enjoy everyone!!