The holiday season brings feelings like no other. November through the end of December bring senses of love, family, and togetherness. Stores are decorated with beautifully lit ornaments, Christmas music is playing on repeat, and everyone is putting up their Christmas trees. When you look close enough, sometimes you will find a small little Hanukkah menorah on a windowsill.
But what is Hanukkah?
When asking someone what Hanukkah is, most of the time the answer will involve lighting a candle and getting 8 presents, but what is Hanukkah actually about?
Hundreds of years ago Jerusalem was controlled by the Seleucids. They were a Syrian/Greek empire that tried to convert the land into a Greek culture. Soldiers were sent to Jerusalem and tried to destroy everything involving Judaism. They ruined the Temple and tried to abolish Judaism in general. No one was allowed to observe any Jewish traditions or holidays. Later on, the empire gave the Jewish people an ultimatum: convert or die. A man named Judah refused this kind of mistreatment and decided to create a resistance against the Greek empire. He became the military leader for the resistance called the Maccabees. To put it bluntly, the Maccabees were incredibly outnumbered and had no chance at winning a war against such a huge empire. Somehow the Maccabees won and reclaimed Judaism in Jerusalem.
So what does this have to do with lighting candles?
Hanukkah means rededication. When the land was reclaimed the Jewish people found that there wasn’t much oil left that wasn’t tarnished by the Greeks. Oil was needed to light the candles every night in the Temple, but they only found enough oil to last for one day. Somehow that little bit of oil lasted 8 days. Every year the Jewish people light one candle every night for 8 nights to show their dedication to the religion and how they will never give it up.
Why do we spin the dreidel?
When the Greek empire was in control, they forbid all acts of Judaism. The Jewish people were forced to stop practicing the religion and studying the Torah. Some Jewish people continued to study in different hiding areas. To make it look like they weren’t practicing any Jewish traditions, they brought spinning tops to play with so it looks like they’re just playing games. Songs and games were made in order to continue the Hanukkah celebration to this day, one of which is the game of spinning the dreidel. There are many Hanukkah tunes that involve spinning the dreidel and winning some chocolate coins. The dreidel has 4 sides with a Hebrew letter on each side that stands for different words. The letters Nun, Gimel, Hay, Pay. These letters stand for the Hebrew saying, “Nes Gadol Hayah Sham” which translates to, “A big miracle happened there.” When the dreidel stops spinning and falls on a letter, the player either wins no chocolates or all the chocolates. Not only is this game fun for the kids during the holidays, it also reminds us of the struggles the Jewish people went through in order to hide their religion.
Hanukkah has many aspects to it. It revolves around saving the Jewish religion from forever being destroyed. Every year the Jewish people light the candles in order to remember that people tried to destroy the Jewish religion, but they never succeeded and they never will.