Hanukkah

This year Hanukkah starts at sundown on December 20th and ends at sunset on December 28th. 

My love for varying religions and religious traditions and stories stem from the experiences I’ve had with friends of differing faiths and as a teacher over the years.    As I have said before, I was blessed to have taught many Jewish children and gained a heartfelt connection with Judaism through the inspiring teachings and stories of Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah and Passover.  My favorite is the story of the miracle of light.  It definitely helps that this story has always been shared with me over oil fried potato latke's and wine, and often ends with a dreidle game gambling for chocolate coins.  Heck, don’t we all love fried food, wine, gambling, and chocolate.  Why do you think I'm such a sucker for Vegas?  It's like Disney World for adults. 

O and I love to read the books about religious traditions, including Hanukkah.  Our favorite is The Magic Dreidels by Eric A Kimmel which we read the other night.  We also enjoy buying chocolate coins and playing the dreidle game.  Singing the dreidel song is all part of our holiday season even though we are not Jewish.  In fact, we have a menorah that we light during the season in celebration of our friends.

OK, back to Hanukkah, for those readers who aren't familiar with it, this is the story I like to share with O.  

Hanukkah is sometimes referred to as the Festival of Lights.  Hanukkah lasts eight days.  Every night of Hanukkah candles are lit on a special candle holder called a Menorah.  Every night of Hanukkah, the Menorah is lit, prayers are sung and each child is given a gift to open.  (Eight nights of Hanukkah equals eight gifts.  What child wouldn't want this!)

Hanukkah tells the story of the Maccabees' reclaiming the city and temple of Jerusalem over 2100 years ago.

A long time ago in Israel, a mean king was in charge. He had a big army with lots of soldiers.  The king didn’t want anyone to celebrate any other religion than what he celebrated.  He destroyed synagogues and a great temple. 

A small group of the Jews, the Maccabees, fought the king's big army and won.  It was a great miracle for the Maccabees' small group of fighters to defeat the king's largest and most powerful army.  When the Maccabees won the war, the first thing they did was clean up their great temple.  Obviously, in those days there was no electricity and there were no light bulbs. Lamps used oil.  Because resources were limited due to the war, when checking their supply of oil they found they only had enough oil to last one day.  They sent people to get more, but knew it may be days before they return.

That is when another miracle occurred.  The little bit of oil lasted eight days.  This is why Hanukkah lasts eight days and why it is called the Festival of Lights.  

Over breakfast this morning, O said, "Mommy, my friend, Mona celebrates Hanukkah just like us.  Yesterday I told my kindergarten class we celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah."  


I texted my friend:

I love Hanukkah.  Kindergarten SUCKS!