Our Chanukah Traditions -- Requested by Satine

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

First off, there's only one real way to spell Ḥanukkah: חנכה
Though the variant חנוכה is used when diacritic dots (vowels, actually) aren't available.

Chanuka is always celebrated on the same dates: The first candle is lit on 24 Kislev and the last day of candle lighting is the first of Tevet. That the Western calendar marks the days differently is beside the point. When there is a leap month on the lunar calendar, Ḥanukah is "late" (running past Christmas and occasionally even into January). The year before leap month, it's said to be "early" with the one time "earliest" a couple of years ago when the first day was Thanksgiving. (Like all Jewish holidays, it runs sundown to sundown, so the first evening, with the first candle lighting, was on the Wednesday before).

Spelling it in English requires the H with the dot under it (Ḥ) or a Ch at the beginning to make the ch sound in Bach. Comedians have a lot of fun talking about trying to teach Americans, who aren't used to that sound (a voiceless velar fricative, if you must know) at the beginning of a word. For some reason, however, a lot of Americans who can pronounce it, make a big deal of struggling with it or over pronouncing it or something. It's a way of distancing themselves, I think, and keeping it other, rather than familiar. Still, it's the least mispronounced holiday in my experience.

Basic Jewish holiday info: We have LOTS of holidays. They're usually broken down in a hierarchy of Shabbat (Sabbath) first and foremost. Then there's the High Holy Days (Rosh HaShana (New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), plus the days between and some preparatory days), the three Holidays (Sukkot (called "Booths" in English), Pesach (Passover), and Shavu'ot ("Weeks")). All of those have a lot of days of prayer and Sabbath-like restrictions on work, cooking, etc. Those are the biggies. The next level has the Festivals, of which Chanukah is one. So is Purim (Feast of Esther). Then there are a number of smaller fasts, feasts and other observances. Chanukah and Purim are the "fun" ones because they're not really religious. More like Fourth of July.

The story: Chanukah is a commemoration of the miracle that happened at the rededication of the second temple after the Maccabees recovered it from the Seleucid Empire (often, erroneously, called the Syrians. They were Greeks). It is also the Jewish entry in the every culture has a solstice holiday lists. The temple was the center of Jewish life, and considered to be God's house. To this day the ark (the box that holds the Torah) is guarded by an Eternal Light. Now, it's usually electric. Then, it was fueled by consecrated olive oil. According to the story, when they went to relight the Eternal Light, there was only one unbroken container of the oil with enough to last just one day, but it lasted for eight days, thus the miracle.

Around the time that Christmas was becoming a big deal in the USA (originally, it was outlawed!), when people were regularizing giving gifts, the first Christmas cards came out, etc., the American Jews--who, unlike Jews in most parts of the world, were full citizens--wanted to participate in the general festivity and good feelings without abandoning their traditions. They pinned the gift giving and cards and decorations and baking of sweets to the closest celebration. Within the Jewish community the traditional times for giving gifts were Rosh HaShana and Passover -- during Passover you clean out everything and always get a new toothbrush, etc. Often gifts of new clothing happen then. New things for a New Year is an easy connection. But there are also times when one doesn't buy new things, and there are religious requirements at others. Chanukkah, except for on the Sabbath, which comes first, doesn't have anything going on that makes it difficult. It's all fun and light. So the gifts and cards and decorations stuck. :)

The Ḥanukkiah, or Chanukah menorah ("menorah" means any candelabra) has one branch for each night of the holiday, and another place set off by height or alignment for the "shamash", the leader candle. The shamash is lit, and used to light the other candles. This may have originated for safety reasons. It's similar to using a taper to light candles with, like they did before matches, but it's a full on candle, the same as the others, and is set to burn with them. Some burn oil instead, with wicks put in. Often the dish of oil for the shamash is movable making lighting easier. There are electric ones for nursing homes and dorms and places where you can't have a flame.

We always burn candles. There are a few different ways of doing it. I think the most common, and the one we do, is light one more candle each night, so one plus the shamash on the first night, and eight on the last. Some use one Ḥanukkiah for the whole house, others have everyone lighting their own Ḥanukkiah. Often, when only one is lit, different people will light different candles. We only light one Ḥanukkiah unless there's a lot of company. When it's the whole mob, er, family, we have several, some set up to mark the day, but the one with the biggest candles full (eight) no matter what the night, so the little kids can handle them easily and each get a turn. The Ḥanukkiah is set so it can be seen out the window, spreading the joy of the miracle. The candles are always left to burn themselves out, never snuffed except for safety. If one has to leave the house, it's usual to light a smaller Ḥanukkiah and put it in the kitchen sink before leaving, rather than snuffing it. There are a couple of blessings that are said while lighting the candles, but we have blessings for everything. Really. And that's the only religious part.

As a symbolic gesture to the miracle of the oil, most Jewish communities favor fried foods. In Europe, it was often latkes, potato pancakes. We only had them if my uncle's wife made them, or, much later, the caterer. There are two schools of thought: The shredded potato latke and the ground or finely grated potato latke. Whichever, they're served with sour cream or apple sauce, which is very Eastern European. In the East, they make sufganiot, which are small dough balls, fried and filled with jam. Basically a form of jelly doughnut. Bakeries sell American style, flat jelly doughnuts (but not as huge as some). They're fun but very messy to make. In Italy, they do fried ricotta balls (which are delicious), and in Latin America they often do buñuelos (fried tortillas with cinnamon sugar) or churros. While we've had all of those at some time or other, in my family it's always bourekes. There are many ways to make them. Spanakopita (spinach in filo triangle) is one form of bourekes. The Greek tiropita is similar to a cheese boureke, but bourekes are always triangles. Some are dough turnovers, but ours are always folded in filo dough drenched in sesame oil. They're baked but they fry themselves in the oil.

We always have a big bowl of small dreidels for playing with, placed low where the kids can get at them. When I was a kid, we used hazelnuts for tokens. The kids nowadays don't bother with the gambling part. The letters on the dreidel are the initials, in Hebrew, of the phrase a Great Miracle Happened There/Here ("here" for inside Israel).

In my family, we always sing the same old songs, though there are tons of Chanukah songs ranging from the devout to the ridiculous. I usually play Chanukah cd's while I'm cooking.

As I mentioned in the gifts thread, we exchange a lot of presents, but they're not necessarily big ones. The kids might get something to open every night, but they might be little things, like you might call stocking stuffers.

We do put up decorations, but unless people get really into it, it's not anywhere near the level of Christmas. Our big decorating holiday is Sukkot, where we build an outdoor shelter and decorate it to celebrate the harvest. I have a potted gold manzanita branch with plastic leaves that I decorate for Ḥanukkah. You'd never mistake it for a Christmas tree. It's a little table top thing. It lives on my kitchen island and it's fun. It shows up in my house a lot better than more traditional decorations, which is the point of it.

So, at the end of all of that, here's the short version: We get together, light candles, sing, play dreidel, exchange presents and eat fried foods.

Featured Answer

plllog
Original Author

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

You're very welcome!

TG, yes, it's personal preference, sort of. I only use the hyphen when talking about very religious things, and then only because it's the way it's done. It's just a reminder. When your traditions have been going along for 2-3000 years, they become a bit layered.

The reasoning: We are bidden in the 10 commandments not to take G-d's Name in vain. That's old fashioned English for not swearing a false oath. If you're going to swear by His name, you'd better mean it and follow through. Very observant Jews (I'm moderately observant) won't swear an oath in court, or just about anyplace else, for fear of their human failings causing them to make mistakes that would abrogate the oath. (You can atone for messing up an oath, though, of course, it's better to take it seriously and not break it. Some just go a little overboard.) So, then just using the Name in speech (and there is an actual name, like the pagan gods have names, as do you and I), if you're not being so serious as to take an oath, becomes too frivolous an act, and you could accidentally falsely swear. So you don't write the Name either, outside of scribing the traditional holy texts.

So then, considering that even in prayer we're often distracted, and certainly during study we are, then we shouldn't say the name even when directly talking to or about Him in devotional ways. Therefore, where the Name, or the abbreviation of it, are printed in the prayers and texts, we say Adonai, literally "my Lords". And the very observant often say 'HaShem", literally "the Name".

Semitic languages like Hebrew use the patterns of consonants to signify the meaning, and the vowels change for things like tense, voice (active, passive or reflexive), adjectival and noun form. Because of that, the context tells you what the vowels are, and they're not written. As the texts became archaic in the old days, and people were speaking the languages of the diaspora in daily life, the obviousness of what the words were lessened, and they came up with a system of diacritic dots to denote the vowels. In modern Hebrew, vowels are often omitted, but they're printed in most prayer books and commentaries, partially because some of the words are very obscure.

The vowels of Adonai are used with the consonants of the Name, to remind you to say Adonai. That's the source of "Jehovah", which is the English version of the consonants of the Name with the vowels of Adonai. (English version because all of the letters are kind of slippery in general, unlike an "f" which is always a "f".) Anyway, in much of the bible, instead of using the Name, it says Elohim, which means "gods" (a word which refers to deities rather than naming the deity), the plural meaning greatness, like the royal we, since there is only one god. And the devout change that to Eloqim to similarly take this word that isn't the name to begin with one step farther back. Elohim was used by one of the early priesthoods, and Adonai by another, so now that their different texts have been stitched together (in some ancient age), we have both.

And that's where writing G-d comes from. If you capitalize, it's a name, even if it's isn't the Name. But I contend that unless it's meant as a religious token, in a religious discussion, it's ridiculous because whether it's an "o" or a hyphen, it's still using the word to refer to, and therefore name, G-d. I don't use the Name frivolously, though I have said it in study because that was my professor's preference.

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Comments (19)

User
10 years ago
Enjoyed your explanation very much! It was more complete than I have ever seen. Thanks.
Texas_Gem
10 years ago
Wow, thanks for the explanation! I've never really known much about it other than it was basically the Jewish Christmas.

I did notice you spelled God instead of G-d is that just a personal preference?
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satine_gw
10 years ago
Thank you so much for the explanations and for sharing what your family does for the holiday. I was interested to learn about the fried foods being used as a sort of reflection of the importance of the oil. I will admit to being a love of latkes. Your ending comment made me smile as I see that no matter our culture or religion we all celebrate with song, food, gifts and if we are fortunate, family. Thanks again for all the explations. Satine
PKponder TX Z7B
10 years ago
I appreciate the explanation of a mysterious (to me) religion or culture.
jemdandy
10 years ago
Very interesting and informative article.

Have you considered submitting this to a newspaper or magazine for publication before Chanuka? Also, it is a good article for interfaith organizations.
Alisande
10 years ago
My family is Protestant and Jewish, but the religion I know best is Roman Catholic because I was sent to a convent boarding school after my mother died. Thank you for the lesson!
rob333 (zone 7b)
10 years ago
Wonderful, and helpful. Thank you!
Elmer J Fudd
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Yes, thanks for the explanation.

I once asked a Jewish colleague about the unusual spelling practice for God and was given a slightly different contextual explanation. He said there were many differences of belief and practice among the different Jewish denominations and that not all followed this particular practice. I suspect p-log's explanation conforms to the view of the particular group she belongs to? Maybe she can explain further. He said another example was eating kosher food, which the more strict adherents practice and the less strict ones don't.

And just to show that no group feels a need for balanced views, he said that as with Christianity, the differences between the denominations are enough that some groups reject practices and views of others and may consider them to be illegitimate. Life goes on.
plllog
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Thanks to all for the kind words. Jemdandy, I was just trying to give background to my answers of the initial question about our observances. I'd think a newspaper would want something more festive. Thank-you for the suggestion, however. I'm flattered.

No, SW, what your colleague said about it and what I said about it are in agreement, and I'm sure he agrees with the origin and reasoning behind it. This is fact. I may not have been 100% clear. For me, who has been seen in this forum using "G-d" it is a matter of preference according to context and my feelings about it. For people at my level of observance, it is also a matter of individual choice. The hyper-observant always choose it, as I said, whereas there are many who have little religious knowledge or practice who don't even know it's an issue. It's similar to whether one chooses to express dates as B.C./A.D. or B.C.E./C.E. It's a little thing that is meaningful to some and silly to others.

Whether or not you keep kosher is a very big thing. My family has taken an intellectual view of practice for generations, so we don't. Family traditions carry as much weight as rabbinic ones, and when the rabbis don't know the answer, they poll the community to find out what practice has been handed down. We talk about the anthropological origins, and go outside of the texts. Instead, for my home, I follow the "new kashrut", choosing foods, as much as possible, that are created with good stewardship and kindness.

We don't have a central authority other than the court. We haven't had a king for a thousand years. There are organizations of organizations where they discuss how they see matters, and some see things very differently from others, but Jewish practice is an individual obligation and will be done in an individual manner. And then all the neighbors will kibbitz about it. :)
User
10 years ago
Snidely Whiplash....exactly!

My father was Jewish. First generation to be born in America after escaping religious persecution in Czechoslovakia.

Wikipedia quote:

Hanukkah is not mentioned in the Bible and was never considered a major holiday in Judaism, but it has become much more visible and widely celebrated in modern times, mainly because it falls around the same time as Christmas and has national Jewish overtones that have been emphasized since the establishment of the State of Israel.
plllog
Original Author
10 years ago
Nicole, I don't know what they mean by "national Jewish overtones". Since the movement to establish the State, many decorations have been made in the colors of the Jewish flag, which became the flag of Israel, but approximately around the time since the establishment, decorations have gone back to being more colorful (the traditional Chanukah colors were red and gold). That's the only connection I know.
User
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
plllog....from what I understand....celebrating Hanukkah in a BIG way is a fairly "new" practice. It's a way of conforming, blending in with what's going on around us.

I guess what I wish to point out is Hanukkah is NOT a central focus in the Jewish religion like Christmas is in Christianity. Jewish people are just trying to be happy!
sheilajoyce_gw
10 years ago
Thank you, Pillog. I love your lessons for us.
sephia_wa
10 years ago
Nice, easy to understand lesson. Thanks for the explanation of questions I have had about Judaism.
plllog
Original Author
10 years ago
You're welcome. Sephia, please feel free to ask if you have any other questions.

Yes, Nicole, you're right. I wrote about that in my first post. At length. :) I certainly didn't take exception to that part of your post. Christmas has only been a big deal for just a little longer, by the way, maybe late 18th C.. Before then, it used to be a day of revelry when people celebrated mostly with booze, which is why it was outlawed in the Puritan days. During my lifetime, Chanukah has been elevated by Christians in the USA, and made much of, which is different from the way it used to be. As Texas_Gem said, made into a sort of Jewish Christmas, but during the same time, Christmas has exploded as a secular holiday more about Santa Claus, gingerbread, movies and recorded theme music (much of which is not devotional), than Las Posadas, mangers, church services and carols, so candles and tops fit right in. They've gone hand in hand.

It was the last bit in the Wikipedia quote that I questioned. It's not that the Maccabee story hasn't been used in the way described. I've just never heard of nationalism dominating Chanukah celebrations. It might be (probably is) true for some people, especially Jews who are pro-Jewish but anti-religion. It's the "emphasized" I'm questioning.
User
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Yes....but I don't think people know what the Maccabee story was about. The Greek slaughter of the Jews. A temple taken back from the Greeks, the winning of a war. Jews use Hanukkah as a remembrance day to not let their people be wiped out.

When I say this is all very "new", which was the point I wanted to make here....see my quote....

Wikipedia quote:

Hanukkah became more widely celebrated beginning from the 1970s, when Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson called for public awareness of the festival and encouraged the lighting of public menorahs
plllog
Original Author
10 years ago
Nicole, I don't get your point. Chanukah is in the Talmud. It has been celebrated since it happened. In the 19th C., Christmas became a much bigger deal in the U.S., and Jews chose to add some of the same trappings to Chanukah. Yes, the grand public lighting of huge menorahs was a big political push by a non-mainstream sect, starting in the 1970's, for reminding people, as Christmas was getting bigger, more public and more secular, that this is a plural society and other people have other traditions. It certainly is one way Christians became more aware of the holiday (which even with presents and all, to us, is minor). The tradition has always been, since ancient times, that the Ḥanukkiah should be visible from the street, whether outside the door, or in the window. R. Schneerson was not the first to display one in public by a long shot. His was just big and loud. People who celebrate Chanukah generally know the Maccabee story. Its in the Septaugent. It's in the story books we read as kids.

Jews use just about every holiday as a remembrance not to get wiped out. Haven't you heard the old joke? Def. Jewish Holiday: They tried to kill us, we won, let's eat. Passover is more about the oppressors, however, and many Seders focus their commentary on modern day tyrants. I'm sure some people must focus on the woe at Chanukah, but it's not common.

The "public awareness" you quoted was about the other 97% of America. We've been celebrating Chanukah every year for thousands of years.
User
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Jews use just about every holiday as a remembrance not to get wiped out.

Right.

I was just trying to point out that all this hoopla over Hanukkah isn't tradition. Making it more fun and more like Christmas has become the Santa Claus version of Hanukkah. That's just happened recently.

Have a great day all.... I'm busy gathering materials for the next remodel...

Our Chanukah Traditions -- Requested by Satine

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