Hanukkah, which means "dedication" and is also referred to as "The Festival of Lights", is a Jewish festival which begins on the Hebrew date of the 25th of Kislev and lasts eight days, through the 2nd of Tevet. This year, that corresponds to November 30th through December 7th. Hannukah commemorates the victory of the Maccabees (led by Judah) over the Hellenistic Syrians in a revolt that took place around 165 BCE (note: Jews use BCE--Before the Common Era and CE--the Common Era instead of BC and AD).
The victory in itself was considered a miracle, but Jewish legend gives an additional explanation for Hanukkah rituals, explained below. Once the Temple Mount in Jerusalem had been reclaimed, the Temple had to be rededicated. According to legend, only one jar of sacramental oil was found, enough for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days, thus the eight days of Hanukkah.
The most important Hanukkah ritual is the candle lighting. Jews light candles in a special candleholder called a "menorah" or a "hanukkiah". Each night, one more candle is added. The middle candle, called the "shamash", is used to light each of the other candles and it is lit every night. Therefore, on the first night of Hanukkah, two candles are lit (the shamash and the candle for the first night) and on the last night, there are nine lit candles.
It is traditional to eat foods fried in oil during Hanukkah. Some common foods are potato latkes and "sufganiot" (jelly doughnuts).
Another tradition is to play the "dreidel" game. A dreidel (or "sivivon") is a four-sided top. On each side is a different Hebrew letter: (nun), (gimel), (heh) and (peh), corresponding to the words in the sentence "nes gadol haya po" ("A great miracle happened here"). Of course, the miracle happened in Israel, so outside of Israel, the letter (peh) is replaced by (shin) for "nes gadol haya sham" ("A great miracle happened there"). The dreidel is used for a gambling game in which each letter represents a different amount of money (or whatever...) won or lost.
Another common Hanukkah practice is giving gifts or "gelt" (money) to children. In Hebrew, "gelt" is called "d'mei Hanukkah".
In Israel, Hanukkah is a very festive time. Schools are out for a week and there are lots of parties and special events around the country. We sing Hanukkah songs (like the one playing in the background), eat lots of fattening food and have lots of fun!
The following pages were originally created for Hanukkah in 1997. My intention was to leave them up for a short while and then to remove them. However, I received such enthusiastic reactions from those who visited my site that I left the pages up, and now, three years later, I find that these dedications are just as moving and just as true as they were when first written. Therefore, I have decided to simply update them and use them once again.
Ideally, each page should be visited on the appropriate night of Hanukkah, as I have lit a "virtual menorah" for each night and included the correct prayers. Note that all Jewish holidays begin at sunset, so, although the first day of Hanukkah is on December 22nd, we light the first candle on the evening of December 21st.
Hanukkah, which means "dedication" and is also referred to as "The Festival of Lights", is a Jewish festival which begins on the Hebrew date of the 25th of Kislev and lasts eight days, through the 2nd of Tevet. This year, that corresponds to November 30th through December 7th. Hannukah commemorates the victory of the Maccabees (led by Judah) over the Hellenistic Syrians in a revolt that took place around 165 BCE (note: Jews use BCE--Before the Common Era and CE--the Common Era instead of BC and AD).
Another tradition is to play the "dreidel" game. A dreidel (or "sivivon") is a four-sided top. On each side is a different Hebrew letter: 
(nun), 
(gimel), 
(heh) and 
(peh), corresponding to the words in the sentence "nes gadol haya po" ("A great miracle happened here"). Of course, the miracle happened in Israel, so outside of Israel, the letter 
(shin) for "nes gadol haya sham" ("A great miracle happened there"). The dreidel is used for a gambling game in which each letter represents a different amount of money (or whatever...) won or lost.
times since mid-April 1999