17 Facts About Hanukkah You Probably Didn’t Know
Happy Hanukkah! Chag sameach (happy holiday)! As the Festival of Lights is just around the corner, we thought we should break down the history behind some of the Jewish holiday's traditions. From its history and its food to how to celebrate it today, here are 17 things to know about the history of Hanukkah.
1 The holiday celebrates a Jewish military victory.
The holiday commemorates the triumph of a band of rebel Jews (known as the Maccabees) in reclaiming the Temple in Jerusalem from the Greek-Syrians. Their victory is documented in the First and Second Book of Maccabees. Hanukkah, therefore, celebrates freedom from oppression.
2 Hanukkah lasts for eight nights, to commemorate how long the holy light burned.
After the Maccabee victory, they cleansed and rededicated the temple—as the story goes, they required a holy light to burn inside at all times, but the Jews had only enough oil for one night. Incredibly, the light burned for eight days.
3 A Hanukkiah is lit each night of the holiday.
A hanukkiah, a type of menorah, is a candelabra with nine candles. Eight candles are the same height, and one sits apart—this is known as the shamash.
4 Menorahs come in all different shapes and sizes.
There's no one correct menorah; you can go the more traditional route, or have one that looks more like a tchotchke. Whatever you prefer—as long as it has eight candles and one shamash!
5 The menorah is lit every night after sundown.
After sundown on each night of Hanukkah, the menorah is lit. Candles are added right to left. Each night, the candles are lit with the newest (left-most) lit first..
6 Gifts were not always given for Hanukkah.
It used to be tradition for people to give small amounts of money to one another for Hanukkah. But as Christmas became more popular in America, more and more American Jews began giving gifts instead.
7 Hanukkah dishes are fried for a reason.
Latkes, sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts), apple fritters—when you think of the food served at Hanukkah, most of them are fried. This isn’t a coincidence; people fry their food in oil for Hanukkah as a symbol for the miracle oil that burned for eight nights straight.
8 Hanukkah is not the most important Jewish holiday
Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover are actually much more significant to the religion. Hanukkah is considered a minor festival.
9 Harry Truman was the first president to celebrate Hanukkah at the White House
In 1951, he accepted a Menorah as a gift from the Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion.
10 There is no "wrong" way to spell Hanukkah.
You may have seen the holiday spelled like Hanukkah, Hannuka, or Chanukah... the list goes on. The most common version is Hanukkah, but all of the spellings are actually accurate. Because there is no correct way to directly translate the Hebrew sounds to English, it could be spelled a variety of different ways, each equally correct.
11 The famous dreidel, or four-sided spinning top, was invented as a distraction.
The Greek-Syrians had outlawed Jewish studies, so the Jews spun dreidels to pretend they were merely playing games while they engaged with their scripture.
12 Millions of jelly donuts are consumed in Israel throughout Hanukkah.
To celebrate the miracle of the oil lasting eight days, many of the holiday's festive foods are prepared in oil, particularly: the family favorite sufganiyot.
13 Jews all around the world have different Hanukkah traditions.
In North African communities, for example, Jews hang a menorah in the doorway.
14 The word "hanukkah" comes from the Hebrew word "Hinuch," or "to teach."
Jews follow a tradition of incentivizing their children to learn Torah on this holiday by gifting them gelt, or golden-wrapped chocolates that resemble coins. Gelt can also be won in a game of dreidel!
15 Hanukkah's impact on pop culture is much smaller than Christmas, but there are still a few notable moments.
One famous Hanukkah moment: Adam Sandler's Hanukkah song, which he performed on Saturday Night Live in 1994. In recent years, musicians like HAIM, Yo La Tengo, and Buzzy Lee (a.k.a. Sasha Spielberg) have released Hanukkah tunes. There's also a decent amount of Hanukkah TV episodes.
16 The world's largest menorah is in New York.
The menorah is 36 feet tall, and it is on 5th Ave and 59th Street at Grand Army Plaza near Central Park in Manhattan.
17 Hanukkah doesn't fall on the same days every year.
Hanukkah is observed according to the Jewish calendar, and starts on the 25th day of Kislev—which corresponds to a different date in the Western calendar each year.
In 2022, Hanukkah begins on sundown on December 18, and ends on Monday, December 26.