Kindle the Lights

Tomorrow night at sundown begins the Jewish Festival of Lights known as Hanukkah.  Every community has its unique Hanukkah traditions, but there are some traditions that are almost universally practiced. They are: lighting the menorah, spinning the dreidel and eating fried foods.

Lighting the Menorah

On the first night of Hanukkah and on all other nights during the holiday, the middle candle (called a shamash) is lit first. The shamash does not count as one of the Hanukkah candles, but is used to light all the other candles.  The candles are placed in the menorah starting on the right and working left, adding a candle each night of the eight-night celebration.  So in addition to the shamash there is one candle the first night, two the second night and so on.  The candles are added to the menorah beginning on the right and working left but are lit beginning with the candle that is furthest to the left and working right.

As in all Jewish holidays, there are prayers of blessing.  As the candles are lit, prayers are said in Hebrew but the English translation of the prayer is this:

Blessed are You, O Lord Our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.

Blessed are You, O Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who made miracles for our forefathers in those days at this time.

Blessed are You, O Lord Our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who has kept us alive, sustained us and brought us to this season.

The reason for the Hanukkah lights is not for the “lighting of the house within”, but rather for the “illumination of the house without,” so that passersby should see it and be reminded of the holiday’s miracle. Accordingly, lamps are set up at a prominent window or near the door leading to the street.

Spinning the Dreidel

A dreidel is a four-sided spinning top with a Hebrew letter on each side. It is used during Hanukkah to play a popular children’s game that involves spinning the dreidel and betting on which Hebrew letter will be showing when the dreidel stops spinning. Children usually play for a pot of gelt, which are chocolate coins covered in gold colored tin foil, but they can also play for candy, nuts, raisins – anything really!

A dreidel has one Hebrew letter on each side. Outside of Israel, those letters are: נ (Nun), ג (Gimmel), ה (Hay) and ש (Shin), which stand for the Hebrew phrase “Nes Gadol Haya Sham.” This phrase means “A great miracle happened there” [in Israel].

Any number of people can play the dreidel game. At the beginning of the game each player is given an equal number of gelt pieces or candy, usually 10-15.  At the beginning of each round, every player puts one piece into the center “pot.” They then take turns spinning the dreidel, with the following meanings assigned to each of the Hebrew letters:

Nun means “nichts,” which means “nothing” in Yiddish. If the dreidel lands with a nun facing up the spinner does nothing.

Gimmel means “ganz,” which is Yiddish for “everything.” If the dreidel lands with the gimmel facing up, the spinner gets everything in the pot.

Hey means “halb,” which means “half” in Yiddish. If the dreidel lands with a hey facing up the spinner gets half of the pot.

Shin means “shtel,” which is Yiddish for “put in.” Pey means “pay.” If the dreidel lands with either a shin or a pey facing up the player adds a game piece to the pot.

When a player runs out of game pieces they are “out.”

Fried Foods

Latkes are among the most common of fried foods eaten during Hanukkah.  But right up there are cheese blintzes and sufganiyot.  Blintzes are a type of crepe filled with a sweet cheese mixture, then fried and topped with sour cream and jam….yum!  Sufganiyot (pronounced SOOF-gone-ee-OAT) are really jelly donuts…now what could possibly be wrong with that? 🙂  We will be giving you recipes for both the blintzes and the sufganiyot next week.

To all our Jewish “chums” we are wishing you a Happy Hanukkah filled with love, joy and truly abundant living!