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Chanukah

"Long, long ago a haughty tyrant tried to force our ancestors to give up their beliefs and customs."
Siddur lev Chadash

Each year members are invited to bring their Chanukiot, candles and matches to the Chanukah Friday night service, before which we light the Chanukah candles.

Chanukah, also known as the Festival of Lights,  derives from the Hebrew verb "חנך", meaning "to dedicate". It lasts for eight days and commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE. Chanukah begins on the eve of the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev. It celebrates the triumph of light over darkness and of spirituality over materiality.

The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a unique candelabrum, the nine-branched Chanukiah. One additional light is lit on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night.  The extra light is called a shamash which means "attendant" or "sexton",  and is given a distinct location, usually above or below the rest. The purpose of the shamash is to have a light available for use, as using the Chanukah lights themselves is forbidden.

More than twenty-one centuries ago, the Holy Land was ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who sought to forcefully Hellenize the people of Israel. Against all odds, and miraculously, a small band of faithful Jews defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it to the service of God. Not only that, but a second miracle occurred when they needed to take refuge in the Temple. When they sought to light the Temple's menorah (a seven branched candelabrum), they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks; miraculously, the one-day supply burned for eight days, until new oil could be prepared.

To commemorate and publicise these miracles, the sages instituted the festival of Chanukah. 

Chanukah customs include eating foods fried in oil -- latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiot (doughnuts); playing with the dreidel (a spinning top on which are inscribed the Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hei and shin, an acronym for Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, "a great miracle happened there"); and the giving of Chanukah gelt, gifts of money, or other presents to children.

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