Chanukah

Valeria Campos                                                                                                                               Campos1

Religion in America

Professor Bullen

12 November 2013

Chanukah

      Latkes, dreidels, and menorahs, this might not sound familiar to everyone, but to Jewish families these are words associated with Chanukah. Chanukah or Hanukah is a special time of the year for American Jews, but not for its significance more for its festivities and its relation to the popular Christian holiday, Christmas. The gift-giving and festivities associated with Chanukah are part of American culture because the Jews, as well as many other religions, assimilated into American culture. A reason why America is called the “melting pot” of the world, everything mixes, even religion.  Even though one can see noticeable differences between Chanukah in America and Chanukah in Israel, the basics are the same, and all over the world Jews are spinning their dreidels with joy.

     To begin with how is this holiday spelled? Is it Chanukah or Hanukah? Most non-Jews know it as Hanukkah but many Jews spell it Chanukah. The reason for the difference in spelling is because there is no direct translation of the Hebrew word for Chanukah to English, so either spelling is acceptable. Hebrew happens to be the official language for the Jews, the Torah (Hebrew bible) and other Jewish scriptures are written in Hebrew. Now that we have the spelling accomplished, its time for a little history lesson on Chanukah. Chanukah is celebrated on the 25th day of Kislev (Jewish month) and last for eight days. Back in 174 B.C.E a malicious king ruled over Syria by the name of Antiochus IV and began to suppress the Jews. Antiochus

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replaced rabbis in temples for Hellenistic priests for he wanted a common religion in his kingdom. In an attempt to control his kingdom he begun to take drastic measures like massacring the Jews and outlawing the practice of the Jewish religion. A big shock was the massacring of a pig, a non-kosher animal, upon the holy temple. After many atrocities a rebel group emerged known as the Maccabees.  Antiochus sent a colossal army to destroy the Maccabees and after many battles the Maccabees won; so then the Jews went back to Jerusalem to claim victory and restore their temple. In the process of rededication there was only enough oil to light the menorah for one day but by a miracle it lasted for eight days! The seven extra days provided the Jews with enough time to supplement more oil for the temple. This holiday is also known as the festival of lights because the light of the menorah helps to symbolize the miraculous miracle that happened on those “eight crazy nights” that occurred those many years ago. After all this is a religion of history and one of the oldest living ones next to Hinduism.

          Usually with such an old religion numerous traditions go along with it, and this is made especially prevalent in the case of Chanukah. One of the traditions that pertain to the history of Chanukah is the lighting of the menorah. Most Jewish families have one or a few menorahs lying around the house. On each menorah there are eight candles with an addition of a longer, middle candle known as the Shamash. The Shamash is used to light all the other candles on their specific day. The Chanukah menorah is used as an example of the menorah from the temple but it is not the same. One of the more important traditions, perhaps the most

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important tradition is the reciting of the blessing of the Candles that is recited every night as a candle is lit. Starting with lighting the Shamash candle first and using it to light the first candle for the first night while saying the blessing over the candles; they should be lit from left to right, the blessing in the Hebrew pronunciation is as follows: “Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam, asher kidishanu b'mitz'votav v'tzivanu, l'had'lik neir shel Chanukah.” Which translates to, “Blessed are you, Lord, our God, sovereign of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us, to light the lights of Chanukah.” Then the blessing for the holiday of Chanukah itself is recited in the Hebrew pronunciation: “Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam, she'asah nisim la'avoteinu bayamim haheim baziman hazeh.” Translated as, “Blessed are you, Lord, our God, sovereign of the universe, Who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days at this time.” All of this is said and done while wearing a Yamaka, a small round hat (Rich). Yamaka or in Hebrew, Kippah is a hat the covers only the top part of the head. The top part of the head is thought to be the area most directed to God and in respect to God is worn during prayer.

         One of the most famous traditions that are known worldwide is the game of the dreidel. The dreidel is a spin top with four sides and each side has a symbol representing a specific instruction. The symbols go as follows: Nun, nothing is gained or loss, Gimel, you win everything in the pot, Hay, you win half, and Shin, you lose one. The common prize to gamble is a chocolate gold coin, known as “gelt,” but anything can be used. Each player places a gold coin in the middle and turns are taken until one person has it all, thus the game is won. The symbols

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on each side are actually a Hebrew word, altogether they spell out “a miracle happened there.” The game arose as a method of disguising, studying the Torah back when the Jewish religion was outlawed. The Jews would be reading the Torah and a patrol would come by and the Jews quickly took out the tops to deceive the patrols. This popular gambling game has made dreidels very famous and now can be found available in all shapes and sizes (Kazen). Next, we explore the delicious tradition, food. Traditionally the food consumed during Chanukah is mostly fried. Fried foods are cooked in oil and that symbolizes the oil that lasted eight days, that is the miracle. One example is Latkes, basically a potato pancake; can be served with apple sauce. Another favorite is the doughnut called by Jew as “sufganiyot”, usually injected with jelly, it’s a Chanukah classic (JOI).