Kindness Advent Calendar: December 7, 2023 (Day 7)
🕎Happy Hanukkah🕎
Welcome to Day (or should we say Night) 7 of your Kindness Advent Calendar! Throughout December, we will provide you with your daily act of kindness through our Kindness Advent Calendar! Come and celebrate the holiday season as we are kind all December long. Today, we showcase one of the other major holidays being celebrated this season.
Chanukah also spelled Hanukkah and known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the re-dedication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE.
Hanukkah is observed for eight nights. According to the Hebrew calendar, it starts on the 25th day of Kislev, which may occur from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar.
Did you know these facts?
- Hanukkah is less religiously significant than other Jewish holidays.
- The menorah holds nine candles. In the center stands the shamus or servant. The shamus lights the eight other Hanukkah candles.
- Playing dreidel is a gambling game popular during the Hanukkah holiday.
- Fried foods are traditional during the holiday, representing the oil used to light the lamps.
- The word 'Hanukkah' means 'dedication'
While learning more about Chanukah, celebrate the holiday with a few of these traditions:
- Light the menorah for the eight nights of the celebration.
- Play the dreidel game. Teach others how to play, too.
- Give gelt or chocolate coins.
- Don't forget the fried food! Pastries, donuts, and latkes come to mind. There are so many kinds of latkes to try, too! Check out the recipes at My Jewish Learning in more ways than you can imagine.
- Invite friends to join you in your traditions.
- Retell the Chanukah story.
- Share your Chanukah traditions with others. See Use #Chanukah or #Hanukkah to post on social media.
"Hanukkah is about the freedom to be true to what we believe without denying the freedom of those who believe otherwise. It's about lighting our candle, while not being threatened by or threatening anyone else's candle."
~ Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z"l