So You Want to Celebrate Chanukah
This post is for people who are Jewish, converting to Judaism, seriously interested in Jewish conversion, or are Jewish-Adjacent (part of an interfaith family, etc.). It is not for gentiles who wish to “deepen their connection to Jesus” or any similar reason uninvolved with genuine interest in becoming a part of the tribe or participating with loved ones, as that is a form of cultural appropriation. Thank you for your understanding. Gentiles CAN, however, reblog!
You’ve celebrated Rosh Hashanah. You observed the Days of Awe. You fasted on Yom Kippur. You’ve rejoiced in Sukkot. Sh’mini Atzeret & Simchat Torah filled you with extra joy. And you’ve had weeks of rest from the Tishrei Holiday chaos. Now, we have a new holiday - and probably the most famous Jewish holiday of all - Chanukah!
Most people think they understand Chanukah - Hanukkah - Hanukah - Chanukkah - חנוכה - חנכה - well enough, but there are actually quite a few different traditions about its origins!
Alexander the Great, around 2200 years ago, conquered the whole area, including the area of Judea and Israel, where many Jews had returned to after the Babylonian Exile
Antiochus IV, of Syria/the Seleucid Greeks, takes over the region, and oppresses the Jews severely, defiling the Temple, conducting non-Kosher sacrifices to pagan deities, preventing the following of Torah, etc.
Judas Maccabeus and his father lead a rebellion against Antiochus, joining with a group called the Chasidim (no connection to the modern movement thereof) to have a revolt against the Seleucids and, of note, the assimilated Jews
The response of many Jewish people to the conquering of Alexander the Great was to Hellenize Jewish culture - ie, make it more Greek. Many texts were written in Greek and many cultural habits and traditions from the larger gentile world were adopted by these Jews
After Antiochus started being a real jerk, many of these Hellenized Jews went along with
The rebellion succeeds, and the Maccabees want to rededicate the Temple - both to cleanse the sanctuary after it had been so greatly defiled, and also to celebrate Sukkot as they had missed it because of King Antiochus
Sukkot Two, Electric Boogaloo
They needed dedicated, kosher oil (probably olive oil) to light the Menorah in the Temple, which actually had seven branches rather than nine as you see in modern “Menorahs” (give me a second to get to that distinction). There was only enough oil, however, to burn for one day; and yet, it burned for eight days, long enough for fresh oil to be acquired - and it is for this miracle that we celebrate Chanukah (rather than the military victory over the Greeks)
It is interesting to note that this story probably didn’t actually happened. It is discussed in the Talmud, presumably as a way to legitimize Chanukah and make it not about celebrating a military victory (which was important, since, well, the Talmud was composed over a long period that overlapped with the time of the Roman Empire, and the Romans weren’t entirely thrilled about discussions of Jews successfully overthrowing their oppressors, sooooooooooooo)
However, the story of the Maccabean revolt seems to have some basis in fact; and the source of the eight-day length of the festival is actually because it was an emergency Sukkot, rather than because of the oil lasting eight days
Not to mention, Sukkot also celebrates the dedication of the First Temple and the end of the use of huts in the desert for dwelling locations; so this, as a holiday celebrating the dedication of the Second Temple, is a natural connection to make
So, Chanukah is a holiday celebrating the victory of the Jewish people over those who wish to destroy it, the preservation of Jewish traditions & Torah, radical anti-assimilationism, miracles of light, and miracles of oil
Why is it spelled so many different ways?
Since Chanukah is the transliteration (ie, it’s not the same word in English, but rather, the Hebrew word spelled with English letters) of a Hebrew word, it doesn’t really match up well with English letters at all
Heck, even in Hebrew it has two different spellings!
Hebrew is a language without written vowels except for little dots and things above the letters called niqqud. However, when Hebrew was modernized as a language for conversation, some letters that often got used sometimes in formulating vowel sounds got used as vowels in lots of words because niqqudim are actually really hard to write especially as typeface (like, say, on a computer) sooooooooo that little line, ו, you can see in the word is sometimes there and sometimes not
So, hebrew spellings: חנוכה or חנכה
ח - ch/χ as in the end of Bach or Loch, you know, that gutteral sound at the back of the neck that has no English equivalent (it actually is sometimes written with an χ too, as in the International Phonetic Alphabet it’s used to designate the sound, and there’s a 95% chance the word “christ” as in Jesus was pronounced **gutteral ch** - rist not Krist so that’s a fun one)
> sometimes ו to symbolize the “uh” sound <
So, χ - n - uh - k - ah -> χanukah
Or Chanukah. Or Hanukkah. or Hanukah. Or Chanukkah. Or χanukkah. It’s a right mess. Any spelling is right.
I recognize the inherent irony in spelling Chanukah with a greek letter, χ, so let’s avoid that one I guess even though it’s phonetically the clearest kind of
But Chanukah’s the best one.
Chanukah today retains a lot of its characteristics of the original festival - it’s kind of like a mini Sukkot in that it’s a very joyous festival; oil and light feature heavily in it; and a lot of the themes around the holiday are focused on being proudly and aggressively Jewish
It is very much so not “Jewish Xmas”. For one thing, the only thing they have in common is like, Light Festival in Dark Cold Time, and even that isn’t the same. For two, Chanukah came first, so if anything, Xmas is Goyische Chanukah
I have receipts for this opinion
Chanukah is stated to occur on the 25th of Kislev. This means that it occurs at the end of the Jewish month, right around the new moon, and goes beyond the new moon - as this month is during the longest nights of the year, that means Chanukah is always at the darkest nights of the year, when there isn’t a moon to light up the sky
When is Xmas? December 25th
Sure, it’s the modern amalgam of a bunch of pagan winter solstice celebrations, but why is it on December 25th and not, say, December 21st? That’s right, Chanukah
This is also why Chanukah jumps around a lot (I’m assuming a lot of gentiles will read this out of curiosity, moreso than my other posts) - it’s based on the lunar calendar, so the dates coincide with the phase of the moon, which don’t line up with the Gregorian calendar
From a religious perspective, Chanukah isn’t the most important; it’s not one of the Days of Awe or the Shalosh Regalim (three pilgrimage festivals), and it isn’t mentioned in the Torah. However, it is still a fun, exciting festival and it has taken on new importance in the modern era as a way to fight against the more mainstream culture. Given it’s also a holiday designated within the Talmud, it is still a major festival (it’s about equivalent with Purim)
Today we celebrate the holiday with ritual candle lighting on a Hanukkiah (Menorah), eating food fried in oil, playing gambling games for money and/or chocolate, and meeting together for festive parties and singing and in general being like “look! light occurs in the darkness! the Jewish people will survive whatever the universe throws at them!”, etc. (Presents are sometimes exchanged as well, but more as a way to not leave Jewish people out of the general gift-giving culture this time of year, rather than being a traditional part of the holiday.)
The colors are blues and whites not because those are actually official colors of Chanukah but because those are the general colors usually associated with the Jewish people (just look at the flag of Israel) and so, in their need to color code everything, gentiles assigned those colors to Chanukah, even though they are as well suited to Chanukah as they are to like, Passover/Pesach, or Rosh Hashanah, sooooo (honestly I’d have the colors be yellow/orange/red for fire + really really dark navy for the darkness in which we light the fire, etc., but that’s not going to catch on probably)
The typical greeting for this holiday is Chag Sameach, which means Happy Festival; you can put Chanukah in the middle there to do Chag Chanukah Sameach, or Happy Festival of Chanukah. You also can say Happy Chanukah, but Chag Sameach is a better idea
Alright, time for me to explain what the deal is with Hanukkiah/Chanukkiah (yes, it’s pronounced with the χ) versus Menorah
The Menorah is a candelabrum lit in the Temple/sanctuary and now can be found in some synagogues (notably reform ones)
This would be the structure that the Maccabees had to light with the oil that lasted longer than the time the oil should have lasted (in the fable part of the story)
The Menorah had seven lamps (six branches and one in the middle), for the seven days of the week
Since the Temple was destroyed, most Jews don’t actually use or have seven-branched Menorot (plural of Menorah in Hebrew), because it’s seen as an object specifically for the Temple; the presence of replicas in some Jewish buildings is actually a radical rejection of a complicated philosophy surrounding this that I don’t feel like getting into
The Hanukkiah is the term for the nine-branched candelabrum used during the Chanukah festival (yup, my spelling choices are inconsistent, I Don’t Care This is What Seems Aesthetically Pleasing To Me and also It’s All Meaningless Anyway)
It has eight branches for the eight days of the miracle/Chanukah/Sukkot Two Electric Boogaloo, and one extra branch to light those - usually raised above the other chandles, called the Shammash or Helper Candle
The eight regular candles should all be at the same height; and the Shammash is above those - otherwise it isn’t a kosher Hanukkiah
You can still call the Hanukkiah a Menorah, especially around people who wouldn’t really know what the former is, I’m just not going to
How do you set up the Hanukkiah?
Each day, you add a new candle to the Hanukkiah
You put the first one in the rightmost spot
Candles are then placed each day on the left side - so you place the candles in the Hanukkiah from right to left, like how you read Hebrew
So, on the seventh night, there will be seven candles, all except for the leftmost candle, which won’t be there
How do you light the Hanukkiah?
You light the Hanukkiah from left to right
So the newest candle is always the first to be lit
First, you light the Shammash
Then, you light the leftmost candle with the Shammash, and you keep going from left to right from there
On the first night, you say these blessings:
Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha’olam, asher kidishanu b’mitzvotav, v’tzivanu, l’hadlik ner shel Chanukah
(Blessed are you, Lrd our Gd, sovereign of the Universe, who has sanctified us with Mitzvot and commanded us to light the lights of Chanukah)
Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha’olam, she’asah nisim la’avoteinu bayamim haheim baziman hazeh
(Blessed are you, Lrd our Gd, sovereign of the Universe, Who Performed Miracles for our Ancestors in those Days at this Time)
Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha’olam, Shehecheyanu v’kiyimanu v’higianu laz’man hazeh
(Blessed are you, Lrd our Gd, sovereign of the Universe, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season)
Every night after that, just do the first two blessings (the third one is only for the first night)
Leave the candles burning until they go out on their own - don’t put them out. They should at least burn for more than a half an hour, traditionally speaking, though usually they last about an hour
These candles are lit any time after dark, but usually before midnight
The candles can also be oil-based, rather than wax-based, and many people prefer that; just be careful because a lot of times oil smoke can wreak havoc on your lungs
Try to light the Hanukkiah - or at least one Hanukkiah - near the doorway, or the window, so that the people on the street can be reminded of the Miracle
After you light the Hanukkiah, you can sing traditional songs (more on that in a bit), use it to tell stories, play Dreidel, eat fried food, etc.
(Captain America Voice) So - you can’t light real candles for whatever reason
Electric Hanukkiot (plural of Hanukkiah) exist! Some are really pretty too. I have two and they’re just lovely
If you follow a more progressive/liberal-end Jewish practice, this is totally fine for the mitzvah
If you are more traditional in your Jewish practice, then it probably isn’t okay
Talk to your rabbi (there are halachic opinions that maintain they’re okay, but it depends)
If it doesn’t work for the mitzvah, you can still use it to publicize the miracle, for example, or for fun; but it doesn’t work for the mitzvah of lighting the Hanukkiah (in this frame of interpretation)
In that case, you might want to go to someone else’s house who can light the Hanukkiah, or if you can’t for health reasons of your own, recognize that pikuach nefesh (the Jewish Principle of Preserving Life above All Else) comes before the need to perform the mitzvah
On Shabbat, you light the candles before Sundown
IE, you light them before the Shabbat candles
If you follow more traditional practice, make sure to use extra oil or larger candles so that they remain lit until a half an hour after nightfall
Do not relight any flames on Shabbat, or move the Hanukkiah, etc., if you follow traditional Shabbat practice
After Shabbat is over, light the Hanukkiah right away (usually right after Havdalah. One day I’ll make a Shabbat post that explains all this stuff but today is not that day)
Because this holiday is all about the oil that lasted eight days (well… it was edited to be all about that so that the Romans wouldn’t get mad but here we are), we eat a bunch of fried, oily food! Heck yeah!
There are a lot of different types of oil-based food eaten on this holiday depending on the community you’re in/from, but there’s nothing wrong with trying out them all!
Latkes (pronounced latkas, interestingly enough) are by far the most famous kind of fried food traditionally eaten during Chanukah
Latkes originated in the Ashkenazi communities of Central/Eastern Europe (which is funny to me that it seems so central to Chanukah but these literally could not have existed prior to the Columbian Exchange ~500 years ago)
These are potato pancakes!
The potato is shaped into patties which are fried in oil until golden brown; they can be served with sauces like applesauce or sour cream if you want or just eaten as is
You can also buy pre-made latkes in plenty of different places
There are many creative types of latkes as well such as apple latkes, sweet potato latkes, corn latkes, plaintain latkes, etc. - it’s definitely a fun concept that people like to play with based on the food they traditionally eat
There is also a Latkatini. I wish I was making this up. There is a nonzero chance I’ll make it.
There are also cheese and wheat based latkes (so, more like regular pancakes) in honor of Judith, a Jewish heroine involved in the Hanukkah story who fed the enemy troops cheese and wine and then beheaded him, so you can make cheese based latkes to honor her too
Sufganiyot are deep-fried jelly-filled donuts, a popular Chanukah treat in Israel and around the world
People get ridiculously creative with these things, filling with all different kinds of jam from raspberry to apricot, and deep frying the dough around it in vegetable oil
Sugar can be put on top, or icing, or even sprinkles
You can also make Sufganiyot filled with chocolate or vanilla cream, or other types of donuts
In general, donuts are great for Chanukah because they’re all deep-fried
Bimuelos are a Sephardic deep-fried dish that are, essentially, deep-fried balls of dough, usually flavored with orange zest or other citrus flavorings
The Jews of Turkey even make these things out of matzo meal and eat them during Pesach which is fantastic
They can be covered in sugary syrup or more savory toppings depending on your mood
They also can be eaten with honey!
Babka, a delicious pastry from Eastern Europe, can be turned into a donut and deep-fried
Chocolate, cinnamon, etc. tend to be winter-evocative (yes, I know, originating from Xmas, but dammit they’re delicious flavors so we’re stealing it and making it Jewish) and can be added to babka!
In Italian Jewish communities, oftentimes endives, artichokes, and cod were fried almost year-round because life was basically like the Chanukah story
One surviving dish is Torzelli, which is curly endive battered and deep fried because of endive being in season in winter
You also could probably get away with deep-frying pasta noodles and seeing what happens
Rugelach are wrapped pastries that aren’t deep-fried but oftentimes are eaten at Chanukah because of their variety of flavors
They can have cheese or chocolate or whatever you want wrapped up in there or used as a topping
Chocolate Bread + Chanukah = Delicious
Gelt are chocolate coins (okay, they can also be real coins, but -)
They’re usually found in your local grocery store
You can use them in the Dreidel game!
Anything fried in oil is a Chanukah dish if you try hard enough
Okay, not non-kosher things. Like, pork (including bacon) doesn’t count
But generally speaking, if it’s fried? It’s Chanukah
You could go to McDonalds and get French Fries in the tradition of the McAbees I’m sorry I had to make the joke
A big part of Hanukkiah-is-burning-and-we’re-enjoying-the-light activities is song singing! There are a lot of traditional Chanukah songs that you can find tunes for online
Ma’oz Tzur is a famous one, singing about the Temple and how it is the Fortress of Salvation
Mi Y’maleil is about how the Maccabees saved and freed us and how can we even describe this
O’ Chanukah, which is a fun song about Chanukah activities
Al Hanissim, which is a traditional prayer said at many holidays including Chanukah and Purim, discussing Miracles
O’ Dreidel, too, of course, which is probably the only Chanukah song known by Goyim
There’s Hanerot, about the purposes of the lights of Chanukah
And plenty of modern songs too! Such as Feliz Chanukah, a blatant rip-off of the Xmas song that is much better than the original lyrics
Singing songs of joy at the miracle and the persistence of the Jewish people is a biiiig part of the spirit of these eight days
**ahem** major banger below
Ah yes, the great, the famous, the wonderful - children’s party game
In general, gambling is a tradition of Chanukah
This is odd, because gambling is frowned upon in Jewish tradition, it’s just not honest etc.
Still, it’s not like, banned, so
Exceptions exist, one major one being gambling on Xmas Eve, as in history it was a time when Xtians would often kill Jewish people or attack them, and Jews were often prohibited from leaving their homes; since Torah study is prohibited for Jews on Xmas lest they look like Oily Josh, gambling gave us something to do
This transferred to Chanukah as well, but gambling is mostly viewed as okay on Chanukah because it’s a joyful holiday with many long nights
Still, don’t bet a lot of money
Card games are also a traditional method of gambling on Chanukah
Still, Dreidel is the Big Thing
A Dreidel is a four-sided top with four letters written on it:
In the Diaspora, these letters stand for Nes Gadol Haya Sham, “A Great Miracle Happened There”, ie, Israel/Judea (נס גדול היה שם)
The letters are different in Israel!
This stands, instead, for Nes Gadol Haya Poh, “A Great Miracle Happened Here”
Everyone starts with an equal amount of what you’re playing with (pennies, gelt, etc.)
You put in one piece into the center pot
You go around the circle, and you spin the Dreidel!
If it lands on נ, nun, you do nothing
If it lands on ג, gimmel, you get everything in the pot
If it lands on ה, hey, you get half the pot or, if it’s an odd number, half + 1
If it lands on ש or פ depending on what dreidel you’re using, you have to add a piece to the pot
If the pot runs out, everyone has to add one to the pot
If you have no pieces left, you are out, or you ask for a loan
When one player has won everything, the game is over!
If you want to change up the rules to have fun with it, go ahead!
Have fun with it! And enjoy your chocolate coins
Go to Chanukah parties & gatherings
Chanukah is often a very festive holiday because it celebrates the survival of the Jewish People against great odds
For people in locations that still face extensive antisemitic persecution, it also hits very close to home
Fire, singing, gambling, and fried food? Sounds like a party to me
Also, Sukkot is a party holiday, and well, this is Sukkot 2.0
Plus, since Xmas in the surrounding culture became… what it is, Chanukah Parties are a legitimate way to “compete” with this… nonsense
Bring food along with, or gelt for the dreidel game, or your Hanukkiah! More fire!
Giving gifts is not a traditional Chanukah activity
However, because gift giving is the Aggressive Norm of our surrounding culture at this time of year, many people have adopted Chanukah gift giving into their practice just to… you know, not leave their kids out
Feel free to give Chanukah gifts if you would like, especially if you feel it would be inequitable not to (though it’s more common for parents to give their children presents than for people to give each other presents as an adult)
(Play it by ear you know your own situation better than I do)
However, it is also totally acceptable to donate money (tzedakah… one day I’ll make that post too) instead in the name of the person you’re giving the gift to
Gifts are actually more of a Purim thing for us! So there’s that
Idk my fiance got me 8 dinosaur toys this year and that is too delightful for me to pass up
Celebrating the holiday with others emphasizes the themes of the day
Study the history of Chanukah & read traditional texts
So the books that actually contain the story of Chanukah aren’t in the Jewish Tanakh (Bible)
These books are I & II Maccabees, which were left out probably because, once again, the Jewish people at the time of bible-canonizing were Afraid of how the Romans Would React to them having holy books involving overthrowing oppressive regimes
There are other theories as well - that they were written too late, or that they weren’t written in Hebrew so that didn’t count (traditionally Jewish texts are written in Hebrew)
Neither of these really explain it because there are books written later than the Maccabees books and there is one book in the Tanakh written in Aramaic (Daniel) so, not Hebrew
Probably self-preservation
You can still study these texts; they exist on the free-Jewish-text site Sefaria. I Maccabees even has the full English translation. II Maccabees does not, but a combination of Google Translate + the Catholic Translation will probably help you to study the text well enough
There are also passages of the Talmud that have been collected by Sefaria that show what the sages originally taught about Chanukah, found here: https://www.sefaria.org/topics/Chanukah
What is traditionally read in the Synagogue on Chanukah?
On Day One, Numbers 7:1 - 7:17
Day Two, Numbers 7:18 - 7:29
Day Three, Numbers 7:24 - 7:35
Day Four, Numbers 7:30 - 7:41
Day Five, Numbers 7:36 - 7:47
Day Six, Numbers 28:1 - 28:15 & 7:42 - 7:47
Day Seven, Numbers 7:48 - 7:59
Day Eight, Numbers 7:54 - 8:4
These texts describe the setting up of the Tabernacle (so, the precursor of the Temple), which, you know, thematically makes sense - offerings are presented on the altar, and the Menorot are set up; and it also describes the celebration of the new month (which happens at the tail end of Chanukah as we transition from Kislev to Tevet
There is also a special Haftarah on Chanukah - so the reading from the Prophets that goes along with the Torah reading on Shabbat - Zechariah 2:14-4:7 (if it’s the first Shabbat/only Shabbat during Chanukah) and 1 Kings 7:40 - 50 (if there are multiple Shabbat during Chanukah)
Zechariah describes how the High Priests will return to Jerusalem and to Judah, which, you know, makes sense for Chanukah; it also mentions the Menorot
Kings goes over the structure of the Temple and, once again, describes the Menorot
There are also many other books and websites you can study to learn more about the history of Chanukah
Okay this is a serious, topical suggestion
Chanukah has many meanings, depending on who you ask
The struggle for liberation in the face of oppression
The need to radically preserve Jewish identity and practice in the face of assimilation
The importance of Jewish study (Torah study was forbidden and conducted in caves during this time) even when it is difficult
A way to be festive during this season in a Jewish way as a match for the wider culture
The glory of miracles & finding sources of light in dark times
It can be difficult to interact with many of these themes depending on how you look at the holiday and yourself
If you find yourself to be fairly assimilated, it’s difficult to argue with the idea that the Maccabees would not have been huge fans of you if you had lived at the same time
Those adverse to violence find it difficult to stomach the glorification thereof in the story of the Maccabees
People who are radical anti-assimilationists often find the growing similarity of Chanukah to Xmas distressing, especially because the two holidays really aren’t that similar
So, I highly recommend taking the interpretation and the outlook on Chanukah that makes the most sense for you
These are all valid interpretations
Do not make the holiday stressful or antagonistic just because it seems like a certain interpretation is necessary to have
You can lift up parts of the holiday for yourself while lowering the importance of other parts
Chanukah is, above all, a fun, celebratory festival - make it fun for you, in whatever way you can
Seriously, celebrate this holiday with friends, family, internet peeps, whoever
Don’t spend the time alone! Go to a bud’s house and light the Hanukkiah with them
Feel free to invite people over for similar reasons, as well!
Talk to others about how you all relate to the story of Chanukah and the Maccabees, and how we are to interact with this tradition in the modern day
Don’t be afraid to reach out - everyone wants to help others celebrate Chanukah!
I am a tortured Jew with a fucked up family staring out a thunderstorm wondering whether or not I can get away with deep-frying pasta for Chanukah
I have ONLY my perspectives and ONLY my studies to offer - I am not perfect! I miss things, and misrepresent things, and lrd knows people disagree with even my well-researched & thought-out things sometimes! I can go on as many sources as I want to, but I’ll never cover everything perfectly - other people are good sources too!
LEARN FROM AAAAAALL THE MOVEMENTS AND CULTURES OF JUDAISM EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING TO SAY AND INFORM ABOUT CHANUKAH
Read, Engage, and Question!!!
GOOD LUCK, and CHAG SAMEACH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Buy the author a coffee: http://ko-fi.com/kulindadromeus
