Hanuka Around the World

Just 2-1/2 weeks from today, we'll begin to celebrate one of the most joyous holidays on the Jewish calendar - Hanuka. This year, for the first and only time in our lifetime, the first day of the holiday falls on Thanksgiving, which has led to a new greeting making the rounds in our Jewish-American world - Happy Thanksgivukah!

To introduce our unit of study about Hanuka yesterday, I asked the children to share everything they could recall that we do to celebrate the holiday. I made a list on the board of everything they shared. Playing the dreydl game, eating latkes and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts), getting and giving presents, getting Hanuka gelt (and eating the chocolate gelt), lighting the Hanuka menorah with its 8 candles and the shamash (the servant candle), and singing Hanuka songs topped the list. I then asked them which of the items we listed were required of us by Jewish law to perform. Some students thought that the dreydl game was required, others that eating latkes and doughnuts were required. A few shared that only lighting the Hanuka menorah (known as a hanukiya) was required. Those students were correct. There is only one Jewish law relating to this holiday - we must light the oil or candles, adding one additional oil wick or candle each succeeding night, until all 8 oil reservoirs/candles are lit on the 8th night. According to the Talmudic era Rabbis, we must place the hanukiya outside, or indoors near a window, "l'farsem et ha'nes" ("to make famous the miracle").

Everything else on the list falls under the category of tradition. I taught the children the Hebrew words for Jewish law (halacha) and for tradition (masoret), and then shared with them that we would spend the remainder of the session creating nine posters, each representing a day we celebrate Hanuka plus the shamash. Each poster would represent a "masoret," a tradition, developed by a specific edah to enrich their celebration of the holiday.

In order to learn about the traditions of these 9 edot, I shared information with the children from various sources, including from a wonderful book I have come upon recently, "Hanukkah Around the World" written by Tami Lehman-Wilzig and illustrated by Vicki Wehrman. The book shares the history of Hanuka, fun activities and recipes related to the holiday, and, most importantly to me as a teacher of our Edot class, interesting information relating to how different Jewish communities around the world celebrate the holiday. Once I divided our students into groups, I assigned each group a particular edah and gave them information relating to their assignment. It certainly looked like everyone had an enjoyable time producing the posters.

Discussing how best to capture the information about the assigned edah's Hanuka customs on  poster

Choosing the right color poster board

I put out all kinds of materials for the children to use to share what they learned

And lots of paints!

Below, some shots of the children creating the posters. It always amazes me to see how quickly they can visualize what they want to do, then set right out to execute their ideas without any hesitation.

And here are the results:

Many Persians practiced the religion of Zoroastrianism going back to ancient days. In this religion, the number 8 is a symbol of perfection. Jews living in Persia (modern-day Iran) adopted the belief in this symbol of perfection, and instead of lighting just one hanukiya, light 8 hanukiyot each day, so that on the 8th night of Hanuka, they light 64 candles - the ultimate symbol of perfection (8 x 8)

A common custom for many celebrations in Mexico is to hang a pinata filled with toys and sweets on a tree limb outdoors, then blindfold children and have them swing a stick, trying to break open the pinata. Jewish children adopted this custom, and on each of the 8 days of Hanuka, a huge, dreydl-shaped pinata is hung up, filled with candies and coins. Children must try to break it open while they are blindfolded.

In Kurdistan (northern Iraq), people were very poor, and could not afford special ritual objects. Jews there were no different. On Hanuka, for example, eggshells were used as the oil holder cups for the hanukiya.

In Alsace (on the French/German border), families use "double-decker" hanukiyot, 8 candles on each of the two levels. Each level has its own shamash candle as well. This way, parents and children can light the candles together on the same hanukiya.

 

Most historians believe that European Jews, particularly those living in Germany, Ireland, and England, borrowed an already existing spinning top game, then gave the game a "Jewish twist" by adding the 4 Hebrew letters to each side of the top. The 4 letters were to represent the Yiddish words for the gambling game they borrowed - "Nicht" (None), "Ganze" (All), Halbe (Half), and "Shtel Ayn" (Put in). Eventually, these letters became associated with the Hebrew phrase, "Nes Gadol Haya Sham" ("A great miracle happened there").

In Yemen, a custom arose among Arab children of collecting wicks for oil lamps from their neighbors and friends for a week, just prior to the winter. Jewish children adopted this tradition and associated it with the Hanuka holiday, using the wicks they collected for their hanukiyot.

In Morocco, Jewish children are sent out on the 8th night of Hanuka to collect from neighbors and friends all leftover oil and wicks. That night, giant bonfires are created using these leftovers, and people sing and dance around the bonfire until the sun rises.

Jewish families in Tunisia hang up their hanukiyot each year on the doorpost opposite the one on which their mezuzah hangs. They light the candles each of the 8 nights while it hangs on the doorpost. They keep the hanukiya hanging there until Purim, about 3 months later.

During the Middle Ages, Christians in Lithuania and the Ukraine handed out gold or silver coins to neighbors and friends at Christmas time. Jews living in these eastern European countries (and later in Poland and Russia as well), adopted this custom, and gave gold or silver coins to their children as rewards for successfully studying Hebrew and Torah. During the 1700's, this custom became associated with Hanuka, as well as with education.

If you have a chance, you can see these wonderful posters on our "Hanuka Around the World" bulletin board, just outside of Room 202.  In the meantime, here's a peek from two angles of the board: