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.
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.
Some Jews have adopted the card-sending tradition popular for Christmas, but many do not consider it a card-sending holiday like Rosh Hashanah.
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.
Interesting fact: Apparently there is reason to believe that what was later interpreted as eight days of Chanukah was actually eight days of Sukkot 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.
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.
"The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me." Abraham Lincoln
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.
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.
"The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me." Abraham Lincoln
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.
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. . .
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!
"The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me." Abraham Lincoln
Chanukah is coming!
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DH is Jewish, and I enjoy hearing about different families and what they do.
