Hey there! Today, we’re going to learn about a special holiday called Hanukkah. It’s a Jewish holiday, and we’re going to find out how it started, what it’s all about, and why people celebrate it.
During the holiday season, there are lots of different celebrations. You might have heard of Christmas and Kwanzaa. Hanukkah is another holiday, and it’s also known as the Festival of Lights. The word “Hanukkah” means “dedication” in Hebrew.
Hanukkah lasts for eight days. Unlike Christmas, which is always on December 25th, Hanukkah can be celebrated from late November to late December. This is because the Jewish calendar follows the moon!
Hanukkah is a time to remember a special event in Jewish history. A long time ago, in the second century BC, the Jewish people lived in a place called Judea. They were ruled by a king named Antiochus IV, who wanted them to worship Greek gods. The Jewish people didn’t want to do this, so they fought back in what is known as the Maccabean Revolt.
The Maccabees, a group of Jewish warriors, led the fight. They were able to win and take back their temple. When they lit the menorah, a special candle holder, they thought they only had enough oil for one night. But a miracle happened, and the oil lasted for eight nights!
To remember this miracle, Jewish families light a menorah for eight nights. The menorah has nine candles, and one of them is called the “shamash” or “servant candle.” This candle is used to light the other eight candles, one for each night of Hanukkah.
People also enjoy delicious foods like latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly donuts), both fried in oil to remember the miracle of the oil. There’s a fun game called dreidel, where you spin a top with Hebrew letters on it. These letters stand for “A great miracle happened here.”
During Hanukkah, people often give and receive gifts. Sometimes, they get one gift for each of the eight nights!
In Israel, there’s a special event where runners carry torches from Modiin to Jerusalem. The final runner lights a giant menorah at the Western Wall. People also sing songs, read stories, and give to those in need.
Even though Hanukkah is a fun holiday, it’s not as religiously important as some other Jewish holidays. So, people can still go to work and school during Hanukkah.
There are about 15 million Jewish people around the world who celebrate Hanukkah. That’s a lot of menorahs, dreidels, and yummy food!
We hope you enjoyed learning about Hanukkah. It’s a time for family, fun, and remembering a special miracle. Happy Hanukkah!
Menorah Craft: Create your own menorah using craft materials like paper towel rolls, construction paper, and markers. Each child can make a menorah with nine “candles” and decorate it. Discuss the significance of each candle and how the shamash is used to light the others. Encourage children to share their menorah with their family and explain its importance.
Dreidel Game Exploration: Learn how to play the dreidel game. Use a real dreidel or make one from paper. Play the game with friends or family and discuss what each Hebrew letter on the dreidel stands for. Talk about the meaning of “A great miracle happened here” and how it relates to the Hanukkah story.
Oil Experiment: Conduct a simple experiment to understand the miracle of the oil. Use a small amount of oil to light a candle and observe how long it lasts. Discuss how the oil in the Hanukkah story lasted for eight nights and why this was considered a miracle. Encourage children to think about other miracles or surprising events they have experienced or heard about.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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What is Hanukkah for kids?
Hey kids! In this video, we’re going to learn about the Jewish holiday called Hanukkah: how it started, what it is, and why it’s celebrated.
Let’s find out the story behind the menorah! We all know that during what we call the holiday season, there are many different celebrations usually accompanied by gifts and parties, and a week off from school. Okay, admit it, that last part was your favorite!
But there are many different ways that people celebrate what we call the holiday season. There’s the Christian celebration called Christmas, the African-American holiday known as Kwanzaa, and the Jewish celebration known as Hanukkah, which is also referred to as the Festival of Lights, the Feast of the Maccabees, or sometimes even the Feast of Dedication.
In fact, Hanukkah means “dedication” in Hebrew. You may have noticed there are also many different ways to spell Hanukkah. Sometimes it’s spelled with an “H,” sometimes with a “CH,” and sometimes you’ll see two “K’s” in the word. But no matter how you spell it, it’s always pronounced the same way: Hanukkah. Say it with me: Hanukkah!
Hanukkah is always celebrated over eight days. Unlike Christmas, which lands on December 25th, the eight days of Hanukkah can happen anywhere from late November to late December, depending on the cycles of the moon. That’s right, the moon determines when Jewish people can celebrate their winter holiday because the Jewish calendar is lunar, meaning it follows the various stages of the moon.
While Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, Hanukkah has a different reason for existing. Broadly, Hanukkah reaffirms the ideals and beliefs of the Jewish religion developed by the ancient Hebrew people. In Judaism, there is one God who has revealed Himself to Abraham, Moses, and other Hebrew prophets. The religion follows the scriptures from the Old Testament of the Bible, and other Jewish laws can be found in the Torah and the Talmud, which are the main religious texts of the faith.
Judaism is considered to be an expression of the covenant that God established with the children of Israel, or the ancient Hebrew people. While Judaism has many rituals and beliefs, and there are several holidays throughout the year, including Passover, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur, Hanukkah holds a special place for Jews as it commemorates a particularly difficult time in Jewish history.
It all started in the second century BC when the Jews rose up against their oppressors in what was called the Maccabean Revolt. The Maccabees were a group of Jewish warriors led by a priest named Mattathias and his five sons. At that time, the Jewish people lived in a land called Judea, also known as the land of Israel, and they were ruled by Antiochus III, the king of Syria. Antiochus III was a good king who allowed the Jews to live peacefully in Syria and practice their religion.
However, when Antiochus IV became king, he took a different approach, telling the Jews they had to worship Greek gods. When the Jews rebelled against this new rule, Antiochus IV ordered his soldiers into the city to kill thousands of people and destroy the Jewish people’s second temple. In its place, they erected a temple to the Greek god Zeus and sacrificed pigs inside, which was deeply offensive to the Jews.
That’s when the Maccabees, led by Mattathias and his brothers, led a rebellion against Antiochus IV. When Mattathias died two years later, his son Judah Maccabee took over the rebellion and drove the Syrians out of Judea. Victory!
At that point, the second temple was rebuilt, and a gold candelabrum with seven branches was placed in the temple and lit. This candelabrum was known as a menorah. When they lit the menorah, they thought there would only be enough oil for it to burn for one night, but according to the Talmud, the oil miraculously burned for eight nights!
Because the oil burned for eight nights instead of one, it gave the Jews in Jerusalem enough time to find a fresh supply of oil. Because of this amazing event, the elders were inspired to proclaim an eight-day holiday to commemorate the burning of the menorah oil.
To this day, lighting the menorah is a large part of the celebration of Hanukkah. As you can see here, this family is lighting the shamash, also known as the servant candle. This ninth candle on the menorah is called the servant candle because it’s used to light the other eight candles, one for each night of Hanukkah.
The Maccabean Rebellion is just one theory about how Hanukkah started. Another theory suggests that Hanukkah was actually just a delayed celebration of Sukkot, which is a seven-day Jewish celebration involving feasting, prayer, and festivities. According to this theory, because Sukkot was delayed that year due to the Maccabean Rebellion, when they finally did celebrate, it became Hanukkah.
Whichever theory you believe, Hanukkah is a fun-filled eight nights of eating good food, gathering with family, and lighting up the night sky with all kinds of interesting-looking menorahs. Nowadays, people who celebrate Hanukkah use candles, with one placed in each of the eight arms of the menorah. During Hanukkah, it’s typical for candles to be lit from right to left, which is the same way that Hebrew is written and read.
As the candles are lit, blessings are said to express the meaning of the holiday. Menorahs used to be placed outside the home when they were lit, but eventually, they were moved inside for safety reasons. You don’t want your menorah candles to be snuffed out by the wind or extinguished by the rain!
One of the most famous Hanukkah events occurs each year in Israel: the annual relay from Modiin to Jerusalem, featuring runners carrying burning torches through the streets until the final runner reaches the Western Wall, also called the Wailing Wall. When the torch carrier gets to the wall, he hands his torch to the chief rabbi, who then uses it to light the first candle on a giant menorah.
The celebration also involves singing hymns, reading scripture, and offering blessings, in addition to almsgiving, which is the practice of giving money or food to the poor.
In addition to lighting the menorah every night for eight nights, other Hanukkah traditions are more secular or non-religious. These include cooking and eating latkes and sufganiyot, which are potato cakes and donuts, both fried in oil to remember the oil that burned for eight days.
There are also games associated with Hanukkah, such as spinning the dreidel, which is a four-sided top. Each side of the top has a Hebrew letter on it, and the four letters stand for the phrase “A great miracle happened here.”
It’s also typical to eat and give out gelt, which are chocolate coins, and of course, there are presents—typically one gift for each night of Hanukkah, totaling eight gifts, which are usually opened after lighting the menorah.
This ritual of gift-giving likely started because Hanukkah is celebrated in countries that also celebrate Christmas, so it was borrowed from the Christian holiday.
Hanukkah also has another unique aspect associated with it: since the word means “dedication,” the Hanukkah celebration often involves rabbis and teachers imparting to students the strength and perseverance reflected in the holiday.
All in all, Hanukkah is a holiday that Jews celebrate often alongside their Christian friends because they both occur around the same time. In the Jewish faith, however, Hanukkah is not as religiously significant as some of the other holidays, so people can still work and go to school during the holiday.
In Israel, there are 6.5 million Jews, about the same number as there are in the United States. All told, there are about 15 million Jews worldwide who celebrate the Festival of Lights.
That’s a whole lot of spinning dreidels, fried latkes, and burning menorahs! Hope you had fun learning with us! Visit us at learnbrite.org for thousands of free resources and turnkey solutions for teachers and homeschoolers.
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