Hanukkah celebrations take place every year during the winter months, though grouping the festival with other celebrations might be a mistake.
Upper Cumberland Jewish Community President and Rabbi Florence Terdeman said Hanukkah is not a large holiday in Jewish culture, though it has become more prevalent over the years in American and Israel. Hanukkah is looped in with other holidays around November and December, inflating the significance of the holiday.
“As Jews, there have been times where it’s been very difficult to follow are religion,” Terdeman said. “And so Hanukkah has become in some ways a festival or a Thanksgiving for being allowed to celebrate our faith.”
Terdeman said Hanukkah celebrates the re-dedication of the Second Temple. Terdeman said the holiday recognizes a miracle, a one-night consecrated oil supply lasted for eight days, which is long enough to consecrate a jug of oil.
The festival lasts for eight days, lighting candles on a hanukkiah correlating with the number of nights it has been. Households will light the candles with a candle called a shamash, lighting from right to left. Households place the hanukkiah where it is visible, like in a window or a shelf.
Each of the candles should burn out rather than extinguishing the flames, using fresh candles each night. It is forbidden to extinguish the candles, letting them burn out through the night.
Terdeman said most families will have parties to celebrate the holiday, serving foods associated with the day.
“Because of the oil component, we serve foods that are fried,” Terdeman said. “So here in the United States and in Eastern Europe they serve fried potatoes, which are called potato latckes”
There are fun activities for children to take part in. Terdeman said a dreidel, a spinning top game with four Hebrew letters written on the sides that translate to “A Great Miracle Happened There.” allows players to earn gelt chocolate coins for winning the game.
Terdeman said Jewish holidays follow the lunar calendar, causing the dates of Hanukkah to shift every year. Terdeman said sometimes Hanukkah can take place in November around Thanksgiving.
