Happy Chanukah Everyone!

Thanks for your good wishes, M..

While I agree that, technically, Chanukah is not a major holiday because it doesn't appear in the Torah or Hebrew Bible, I think it's important to recognize that it has become a major holiday in the US for 2 reasons. One is not so good - because of its juxtaposition with Christmas, it has taken on the same commercialization that has beset Christmas (to the chagrin of many who celebrate either holiday). But the second is more important, especially in recent times and recent days: Chanukah affirms the right of all religions to exist and of all cultures to celebrate their customs within the greater society. Minority groups have every right to celebrate their language, observances, dress and other traditions, and the majority needs to be accepting of that. So Chanukah has become even more relevant in times when intolerance and misunderstanding are on the rise.

The only thing Jews really "have" to do during Chanukah is to light the special Chanukah menorah (called a Chanukiah) every night. We actually light quite a few - some we bought, some we got as gifts, some our child made over the years. We do them in the main window to share the light with the world.

All the other stuff is custom and varies by culture, region, etc. Most include foods cooked in oil (for the "miracle of the oil"). In my family, we follow the Ashkenazic traditions from central Europe mostly - potato latkes, although we expand that into sweet potato pancakes, and some mixed veggie pancakes. We also pick up some Sephardic traditions like jelly donuts as is common in Israel. We also share those chocolate foil-wrapped coins, called "gelt".

I always do some decorating with banners and Jewish star garlands - not as much as when our kid was little, but some.

We always keep the gift-giving small, with gifts on some nights but not all. I made an 8-pocket wall hanging for my son years ago, and each night definitely has something small - always a few chocolate gelt coins, and stuff like a pair of socks or a tee shirt. There were always just a couple of main gifts - and we would put a "clue" into one of the pockets about where our son should look for something too large to fit into the pockets. My son is an adult now but he still gets (and loves) his daily gelt, and I still give him undershirts or socks, plus usually 2 bigger things or books.

When my son was little and a picky eater, I bought the box of potato pancake mix and put those metal Chanukah cookie cutters in the frying pan of oil, then poured the latke mix in them - so he loved potato pancakes shaped like a Jewish star, a menorah and a dreidel.

We usually have at least one Chanukah party with Jewish and non-Jewish friends/family. It's a big Fry Fest with fried chicken tenders plus the various latke recipes, oven roasted vegetables (with a drizzle of olive oil), and maybe some of the shaped latkes if we have little kids coming. I'll make a batch of Chanukah cookies - just sugar cookies in the cookie cutter shapes with blue and yellow sugar stuff on top, plus jelly donut "munchkins".

We always have a charity project or night at least on one night. When our son was younger, we took money we had collected before every Sabbath dinner, and decided what to do with it. Sometimes we went to the supermarket and he bought food for the food pantry, other times we gave it in response to a local disaster (fire, etc.). One year I started a program at our JCC did a program to collect clothing and toys for 8 families in shelters - we got their wish lists, sizes, etc. and put them on 8 large paper "candles" we built in the building window. Families contributed to light the "flame" at the top of the candle when everything was collected. Now our synagogue participates in the Interfaith Hospitality Network, hosting homeless families - we feed, house and entertain them, help the kids with homework, babysit the little ones so the parents can get some quiet time or job hunt, etc.

Hope all enjoy this season of light and freedom!

Thank you M.! Your good wishes and desire to learn are so appreciated.

Last night, my kids lit the candles with my (non-Jewish) husband because I was at work all evening. Today, I brought things for a table in our student dining hall area to inform our overwhelmingly-Christian student body a bit about the holiday. Tonight, I plan to make latkes (the potato pancakes). Hopefully it will happen..

Hi M.,

My husband is Jewish and I am not so my dear only child son gets both.........Lawd!!

To answer your question we light the menorah and say the prayers after dinner all 8 nights but only open gifts every other night. That leaves some gifts/funds for a few Christmas gifts as well.

Curiosity is always a good thing......keep reaching out and happy holidays. :-) S.

I'm not Jewish, but appreciate your question.

Happy Hanukkah, MP ladies!

Thanks! I am not Jewish but my husband is, and therefore my kids are ethnically half-Jewish (but not religiously Jewish). Anyway...my in-laws are very relaxed about holidays and celebrate when convenient, so we got together with his family for dinner Saturday night (one day early). We are separated so he has the menorah, but I'll pick out a new one for our house tomorrow. Obviously we've missed the first 2 nights, but I plan on still lighting the candles and have the boys recite what they normally say when lighting them. We give small gifts, decorate, light the candles, and that's about it. It's a pretty low-key holiday. My husband will do the same at his apartment on the nights the boys go to dinner at house place. It's funny...after complaining about Christmas and not helping me with decorations the entire time I've known him, he decided to get a small tree and some decorations for his apartment. So our kids will still celebrate both holidays at both houses, which is really nice.

Thank you, M.! Very kind of you and much appreciated!

We celebrate in various ways…..some quiet nights at home, sometimes parties at home or at friends' houses, sometimes community and synagogue celebrations. Even though Chanukah is not a major holiday, our temple always has some social gathering at this time. It's hard to do everything and hard to do major celebrating 8 nights in a row (particularly on school/work nights), and we usually don't.

This year, since 2 of the 3 older kids were just home for Thanksgiving and the oldest lives across the country, it was just my husband, youngest son, and me for the first night. We said the blessings, lit the menorah (chanukiah), ate latkes, and my son opened a present. We do not do presents every night. We do light the candles and say the blessings on the nights we are at our home.

As part of our family's tradition, we make giving to others a priority. On the second night, after blessings, lighting the menorah, and dinner, we put together stockings to donate to homeless youth. We will also be donating new toys for children in our city.

On the third night, we will go to an outdoor community menorah lighting ceremony. Children will be singing, people mingling and having fun, and eating sufganiyot (similar to jelly donughts), which, because they are fried in oil, are a symbolic food associated with Chanukah.

For the rest of the week, we have an Israeli Defense Fund (IDF) formal event, a few more gatherings with friends (both Jews and non-Jews) with some dreidel games, and hopefully, some more quiet time at home.

During this time of year, I like to make special foods, listen to Chanukah music, and decorate. We have numerous chanukiot (plural of chanukiah, which is a special kind of candelabra, or menorah, used for Chanukah), and I love having them all over. I especially love the homemade ones.

This year, however, since we've just moved into our new house, I am still unpacking, so the decorating is not going as well as I'd like, but that's okay. The most important thing to me is spending time with family and friends.

We are also invited to many Christmas parties and love to share those times with our friends and family who are Christian. To me, in the end, it's all about the love and good feelings shared between family and friends.

I really appreciate you taking the time to extend the good wishes and for asking about customs and traditions! I hope you enjoy all of your celebrations, too!

how lovely!
i join you in wishing a happy Chanukah to our jewish members!
i don't know much about it, really, but i love the deep symbolism and thought that seems to go into the jewish celebrations of faith.
khairete
S.