Hanukkah

All About Hanukkah!

Religion: Judaism

• religious belief

• people who follow Judaism are called Jewish or a Jew

Language: Hebrew

• a language native to Israel

• language of Jewish prayer

Temple/Synagogue

• Jewish place of worship

Hanukkah

• Hanukkah: a Jewish holiday that usually takes place in December. It lasts for eight nights and celebrates an old story about a miracle.

• The miracle: Many years ago, the Jewish people won a difficult battle to protect their temple. When they returned, they found only one small jar of oil to light the temple’s lamp. The oil should have lasted only one day, but it burned for eight days.

• Because of this, Hanukkah is also called the Festival of Lights.

Multiple Choice

Where is Hanukkah celebrated?

• Israel

• United States

• Israel and around the world.

• Around the world.

Multiple Choice

Which religion celebrates Hanukkah?

• Christianity

• Judaism

• Hinduism

• Buddhism

Menorah

• candle holder

• SEVEN (7) candle branches

• for everyday use- 7 candles for 7 days of the week (middle is for the Sabbath- a day of rest)

• Sabbath in Judaism is on Saturday

Hanukkiah

• candle holder special for Hanukkah

• NINE (9) candle branches

• 8 candles for 8 nights, plus 1 more "helper" candle to light them (usually in the middle)

Multiple Choice

Hannukah is called the festival of ________.

• fun
• food
• lights
• music

Open Ended

What adjectives can you use to describe a Hanukkiah or Menorah? (Example: silver, decorative, meaningful)

Latkes

• potato pancakes

• fried in oil

• often eaten with sour cream and/or applesauce

Sufganiyot

• jelly donut

• fried in oil

Why so many foods fried in oil?

• Oil is an important part of the story of Hanukkah.

• Judah Maccabee and his soldiers won a fierce battle and discovered their temple to be in ruins.

• After cleaning up, they only had enough oil to light the menorah for one night.

• But a miracle happened and the oil lasted for eight nights.

Multiple Choice

The miracle of Hanukkah is that the ______ lasted for 8 days and nights.

• oil
• food
• water
• wood

Multiple Choice

A special treat is potato pancakes; they are called:

• Shamash
• latkes
• sweet potatoes
• gelt

Multiple Choice

What are "sivivon" from the song?

("Sivivon to play with...")

• Latkes

• Oil

• Dreidel

• Menorahs

Dreidel

• a 4-sided top with Hebrew letters on each side

Gelt

• money

• usually chocolate "gold" coins

• given as a gift or used to play dreidel

How to Play Dreidel

• each person gets the same amount of coins and puts 1 or 2 in the middle pot (depending on # of players)

• take turns spinning the dreidel and follow what the dreidel says

• if the pot becomes empty, everyone puts 1 coin in

• if a player loses all their coins, they are out

• if a player gets all the coins, they win!

Multiple Choice

What happens if there are no more coins in the pot?

• the game is over

• the player who has the most coins wins

• each player puts one coin in

• the player with the least coins wins

Multiple Choice

How does the game end?

• When there is 1 player left with all the pieces

• It never ends

Dreidel Sides

• shin- put one in ("there")

• hey- half, get half ("happened")

• gimel- get all ("great")

• nun- nothing ("miracle")

Each side has a special meaning which together makes the Hebrew phrase: A great miracle happened there