Chanukah history and traditions

Still not feeling 100% better today -- some of the symptoms are over and done with, but I can't seem to shake these nauseous and exhausted feelings. It was so bad that I had to miss last night's Yule ritual, which I anticipated but was still rather upset about.

We did go to Matt's family's Chanukah dinner on Saturday, though! It was a wonderful time spent with extended family, and I'm so happy they invited us. The hosts, Matt's cousin and his family, even gifted us with a bakeware set, which was just so sweet of them. :) We hope to have them all over soon!

Since the first night of Chanukah is so soon -- tomorrow night, yikes! -- I thought I'd share a little about the history of this holiday. Chanukah (or Hanukkah or Chanukkah or Channukah or Hanukah or Hannukah or... you get the picture), the "feast of dedication," is celebrated on the 25th of Kislev and recalls the war fought by the Maccabees for religious freedom. It actually starts with a great bit of history, with the reign of Alexander the Great, who conquered Syria, Egypt, and Judea but allowed the people under his control to continue observing their own religions and retain a certain degree of autonomy. Just like American Jews today assimilated into secular society, so did Jews in that time to much of Hellenistic culture.

Alexander's successor, Antiochus Eipihanes IV (165 BCE), then gained control of the region, and he oppressed the Jews severely, placing a Hellenistic priest in the Temple, slaughtering Jews, prohibited Jewish religious practices, and requiring the sacrifice of pigs (a non-kosher animal) at the Temple. A nationalistic group led by Judah Maccabee and his father, Mattathias the Hasmonean, and a religious traditionalist group known as the Chasidm (the forerunners of the Pharisees, not to be confused with today's Chasidic movement) opposed Antiochus and joined forces in a revolt against both the assimilation of Hellenistic Jews and the oppression by the Greek government.

The Maccabees reigned victorious over the Syrian army, and Jewish legend in the Talmud says that, after driving the Syrian Greeks from Jerusalem, the Maccabees cleansed and purified the Temple but only found one small jar of pure olive oil to light the Temple menorah. It was only enough to burn for one night, but it burned for eight nights instead of one, giving the Jews the time to prepare new oil. Because of this miracle, Chanukah is celebrated for eight nights.

While the legend is definitely neat, according to the Book of Maccabees, the first Chanukah was actually celebrated for eight days as a late celebration of Sukkot and Simchat Torah, two very important Jewish holidays that were not celebrated properly in Jerusalem while the Temple was in the hands of the Syrian Greeks. Chanukah is the celebration of religious freedom and of the miracle of the oil, not of the military victory -- though the history surrounding the festival is absolutely important.

The menorah (or, more properly, the chanukia) used for Chanukah differs from the Temple menorah described above, which was instructed by God to the Children of Israel to create and had seven branches to hold candles. Chanukias are nine-branched candelabras, with one holding the candle used to light all the others. Chanukah is celebrated by using one candle, the shamash, to light one candle in the chanukia on the first night and adding one candle each night until all eight (and the shamash) are lit at once.

While it was previously customary to give children gifts of nuts and gelt (token sums of money) for Chanukah, modern Jews have taken to emulating Christian practice by giving their children more significant gifts, sometimes even one for each night of the festival. In fact, because of its proximity to Christmas, not only is Chanukah regarded one of the most popular Jewish holidays (despite it not being a religious festival or even one of the high holidays), but it's become rather assimilated with other practices around this time of year.

Rather ironic, isn't it?

There's also playing the dreidel, a gambling game played with trinkets (M&Ms, chocolate gelt, and so forth) and a four-sided top. The dreidel is marked with four Hebrew letters and their rough Yiddish translations: Nun (nothing), Gimmel (all), Heh (half), and Shin (put). These actually detail the rules of the game: Nun doesn't do anything, Gimmel means you "gimme!" everything in the pile, Heh is to take half the pile, and Shin is to put one in. When one person has everything, the game is restarted until someone's frustrated and starts eating all the candy. ;)

Prayers

Each night before the candles are lit, blessings are said to the family and to praise God. Below are the prayers in Hebrew, transliteration, and English.

Blessing Over the Candles

Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam
Blessed are you, Lord, our God, sovereign of the universe

asher kidishanu b'mitz'votav v'tzivanu
Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us

l'had'lik neir shel Chanukah. (Amein)
to light the lights of Chanukah. (Amen)

Blessing for Chanukah

Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam
Blessed are you, Lord, our God, sovereign of the universe

she'asah nisim la'avoteinu bayamim haheim baziman hazeh. (Amein)
Who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days at this time. (Amen)

Shehecheyanu (first night only)

Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam
Blessed are you, Lord, our God, sovereign of the universe

shehecheyanu v'kiyimanu v'higi'anu laz'man hazeh. (Amein)
who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season. (Amen)