Chanukah Basics

Lights, Candles, Action.

A Chanukah menorah has eight candleholders in one straight row of equal height and provides a place. The shamash (servant candle), which is used to light the menorah, is placed higher or set aside from the others. A menorah which uses electric candles can be used as a Chanukah decoration, but does not achieve the mitzvah (connection to the Divine) of lighting the menorah.
Part of the Chanukah mitzvah is publicizing the miracle of Chanukah, so we place the menorah in the doorway, opposite the mezuzah, or by a window, clearly visible to the outside.
Candles may be used, but because of its role in the Chanukah miracle, a menorah of oil is especially significant.
On the first night of Chanukah, after sunset, gather the family for the lighting of the menorah. Before lighting, say the appropriate blessings (see below). Use the shamash to light the first candle on your far right of the menorah.
On the second night, light an additional candle to the left of the candle lit the night before. Light the “new” candle first, followed by the one directly to its right. Repeat this pattern each night of Chanukah. The candles must burn for at least half an hour. After lighting the candles, recite the Hanairos Hallolu (see below).
On Friday afternoon, we light the Chanukah candles just before the Shabbat candles. (On Shabbat, the holy day of rest, it is prohibited to ignite a flame.) On Saturday, the Chanukah are not lit until the end of Shabbat, after the Havdalah prayer is recited.

The Melody-Haneiros Halalu:
We kindle these lights (to commemorate) the saving acts, miracles and wonders which You have performed for our forefathers, in those days at this time, through Your holy Kohanim. Throughout the eight days of Chanukah, these light are sacred, and we are not permitted to make use of them, but only to look at them, in order to offer thanks and praise to Your great Name for Your miracles, for Your wonders and for Your salvations.

Thought for Food

To celebrate the miracle of the oil, it is traditional to eat fried foods, such as potato latkes (pancakes) and sufganiot (Israeli-style doughnuts).
To produce oil, intense pressure is put on the olive. Chassidus explains that many times people experience pressures in life. Yet, “G-d does not overburden His creations.” The purpose of this pressure is to unleash one’s potential and hidden strength.
We also eat dairy products on Chanukah, to commemorate the Jewish heroine, Yehudis. In 164 B.C.E., the Greek general Holofernes besieged the village of Bethulia. After intense fighting, Yehudis rebuked the town elders who were about to surrender. She then approached Holofernes to offer her services as a spy. She met Holofernes in his tent and offered him salty cheese, followed by wine to quench his thirst, causing him to fall asleep. Yehudis beheaded him and escaped. When the Greek soldiers found his corpse, they retreated in fear. Yehudis saved her village and countless lives, with the help of a little cheese.

Latkes for Dummies
5 large potatoes, peeled
1 large onion
4 eggs
1/3 cup of matzo meal
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup vegetable oil for frying
Grate potatoes and onion in your food processor, or on the fine side of a hand grater. Add eggs, matzo meal and seasoning. Mix well in a large bowl. Heat oil on a high flame in a frying pan. Add mixture, one tablespoon at a time, to the pan. When golden brown, flip, and brown the other side. Enjoy with apple sauce, fruit jam or sour cream.

The Big Spin

The game of dreidel is one of the oldest recorded games in history. Around170 B.C.E., the Greeks, who occupied Israel, deemed Jewish rituals punishable by death. Teachers and their students defiantly studied in secret and, when patrols came by, would pretend to be playing an innocent game.
The dreidel (or sevivon in Hebrew) is a four-sided spinning top. A Hebrew letter is written on each side: Nun, Gimel, Hay and Shin, representing the phrase Nes Gadol Hayah Sham—A Great Miracle Happened There. In Israel, the Shin is replaced with a Peh, for the word Po, Here.
Each player begins with a certain amount of coins, candy or any kind of token. Each player puts a token into the pot. The youngest player (or you can spin for it) spins the dreidel first. The letter facing upward determines the pay-off.
Nun = nothing
Gimel = everything
Hay = half
Shin/Peh = add two tokens to the pot

A Gelt Trip

On Chanukah, it is traditional to give gelt (money) to children. Maimonides explains that the Greeks attempted to defile not only Jewish rituals, but also their property. The triumph of Chanukah is celebrated by giving gelt, often designated for charity.
Charity is one of the greatest mitzvot because a person uses time, energy, body and mind to work. When he or she gives to the needy, all his or her work is elevated beyond the physical.

Alexander the Great was the leader of the Greek Empire who by the age of 21 had conquered most of the known
world. He respected the Jews. He didn’t want to wage war against tiny Judea; he only required heavy taxes. The Talmud details many conversations that young Alexander had with the Jewish Sages, many of whom traveled to Greece to tutor royalty.
Alexander’s death in 165 B.C.E. split the Greek empire into three territories: Greece, Egypt and Syria. Ten years later, in 175 BCE, Antiochus IV rose to power over the Syrian territories, which included Israel. The Syrian Greeks, called Seleucids, were not interested in co-existence, but in assimilation.
In the Talmud, the Book of the Maccabees, Josephus and other works detail the events of Chanukah. Antiochus IV sent his ministers to force Greek culture on the people of Israel. Most Jews conformed. What else could they do against the might of the empire? The Zohar says of this period: “The Greeks darkened the eyes of Israel with their decrees.”

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