Hanukkah is a holiday that the Jewish celebrate instead of Christmas. The holiday started over 21 centuries ago when the ‘Holy Land’ was ruled over by Seleucids, also known as Syrian-Greeks. These people forcefully hellenized the Israel people until a small group of Jews defeated one of the strongest armies on earth, they drove the Greeks away from the land and reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
When the Jews wished to light the Temples menorah, while they searched they found a single cruse of olive oil that the Greeks had not destroyed. It was only supposed to be a one-day supply, but the candle burned for eight days straight! To celebrate the miracle, the sages created the festival of Hanukkah.
At the center of the festival was the nightly menorah lighting. The first night only a single flame was lit, then the next night they lit two flames until every night a flame was lit so that all eight flames burned bright.
Here’s a fun fact: During Hanukkah the people only eat foods that have been fried in oil ex; potato pancakes, doughnuts. They also have the traditional dreidel that the children play with. (Dreidel: a spinning top on which are inscribed the Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hei and shin, an acronym for Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, “a great miracle happened there”).
Hanukkah is also spelled as Chanukah which means ‘Dedication’ in Hebrew. During this joyous celebration they sing many songs, play games, and have a bunch of traditional stuff that has been passed down through the many generations. Some of the songs they listen to are
Hanukkah is a holiday that the Jewish celebrate instead of Christmas. The holiday started over 21 centuries ago when the ‘Holy Land’ was ruled over by Seleucids, also known as Syrian-Greeks. These people forcefully hellenized the Israel people until a small group of Jews defeated one of the strongest armies on earth, they drove the Greeks away from the land and reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
When the Jews wished to light the Temples menorah, while they searched they found a single cruse of olive oil that the Greeks had not destroyed. It was only supposed to be a one-day supply, but the candle burned for eight days straight! To celebrate the miracle, the sages created the festival of Hanukkah.
At the center of the festival was the nightly menorah lighting. The first night only a single flame was lit, then the next night they lit two flames until every night a flame was lit so that all eight flames burned bright.
Here’s a fun fact: During Hanukkah the people only eat foods that have been fried in oil ex; potato pancakes, doughnuts. They also have the traditional dreidel that the children play with. (Dreidel: a spinning top on which are inscribed the Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hei and shin, an acronym for Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, “a great miracle happened there”).
Hanukkah is also spelled as Chanukah which means ‘Dedication’ in Hebrew. During this joyous celebration they sing many songs, play games, and have a bunch of traditional stuff that has been passed down through the many generations. Some of the songs they listen to include Hanukkah blessings, Maoz Tzur, Judas Maccabaeus, Oh Chanukah, I Have a Little Dreidel, Sevivon, Al Hanisim, Mi Y’malel.
That’ll be the end of this blog, but you can read some of our other blogs at: https://mcdowellmedia.edublogs.org