Channukah, Oh Hanukkah, Come Light The Menorah

How much do you really feel like you know about Hanukkah? Or do you think that you know about Chanukkah? Channukah? Hanukah?

In this blog post, I hope to answer some of your questions such as "which is the correct spelling", "why do the dates of the holiday change every year", and "what is even being celebrated".

But first I want to give you a bit of a disclaimer, which is that I do not speak for all of the Jewish people of the world. I have grown up in a reformed Jewish congregation, my family is very relaxed in our practice, and my dad is not Jewish. My experiences may not be the same as another Reformed Jew’s, nor someone who is Conservative, Orthodox, Hasidic, Kabbalah, or s part of any other congregation.

I don’t exactly know where to begin with all that I want to say. Here is an order that I think makes sense for the following information. Feel free to read the bullets in any order though.

• Until I became a Bat Mitzvah at age 13, Santa visited my house at Christmas. We had red and green sugar cookies, stockings, and a tree with presents under it. This was because my dad grew up Christian and we used the holiday time to visit his family, but also so that as a child I could experience the American cultural aspect of Christmas. My family didn’t go to church but we read “The Night Before Christmas”. I know that I am not the only Jew to be celebrating Christmas for these reasons.

• Chanukkah is not technically supposed to be a gift-giving holiday. It’s a minor holiday to celebrate a miracle. Specifically, the miracle that took place shortly after the destruction of the Holy Temple. We give gifts because of the influence of Christmas on Judaism and how it is practiced, especially Reformed.

• A question I often hear and honestly find fun to answer is, “why do the days of Hanukkah change every year?” That is because Jewish holidays follow a different calendar than what most of America uses. A few years ago while I was visiting the Jewish Museum in New York City I saw a great explanation of how the Jewish year works, and so I wanted to give that explanation.

• This is the simplified story of Hanukkah that I feel like I have always known, and I would like to tell it to you so that you can know why we celebrate as well. In the second century BCE, Seleucids (Syrian- Greeks) invaded Isreal destroying holy sites such as the Holy Temple and outlawing the practice of Judaism. During this occupation of the area, people continued to practice their religion in secret with things such as playing dreidel to learn Hebrew but having it appear as just a game. Then a small band of people called the Maccabees arose to fight off the Seleucids. They succeeded but many Temples (Synagogues) had already been destroyed. A light needed to be on for prayer even in the rubble, but there was only a small drop left and it would take eight days for more oil to be acquired. So they lit the small amount of oil they had expected it to last no more than a day, but then a miracle took place and the oil burned for eight days until more oil could be brought back. Because of that miracle, we burn candles for eight days in remembrance of resilience against all odds.

• So while a large population of America is attending Church on Christmas Eve or enjoying a family meal, the Jews are settling in on the couch with Chinese Food and preparing to watch “The Goldbergs” (or something else, I just went for Jewish) or searching for any Jewish movies that AREN’T about the Holocaust. And by the way, it really bothers me how few stories (movies and books) there are about Judaism besides holocaust stories. I want to hear uplifting stories about my culture, not just about the ways Jews have been subject to oppression and hate. There are some other stories, but there needs to be more!

• "But Charlotte, this is a book blog. Are you not going to talk about books? No talk about YA?" Fear no more, I present to you some of my favorite books about Jews!

It’s A Whole Spiel is an anthology of short stories related to what I would like to call "The Jewish Experience". It features authors such as David Leviathan, Alex London, and Dana Shwartz. My favorite thing about these short stories is that they are about everyday people and I can see myself in some aspect of all the characters.

Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi features Zofia, an Ashkenazi Jewish girl who was kicked out of her boarding school, as one of the members of Severin's crew for pulling off a grand heist in 19th century Paris. The story is elegant and risky, and there are many wonderful characters to tug on your heartstrings. As you can probably tell, Zofia is my favorite.

Dave at Night by Gail Carson Levine is technically a YA book, but I read it with my mom around when I was twelve. When Dave's father dies no other relatives are willing to take him in, which leads to the boy finding himself in the Hebrew Home For Boys, an orphanage. At night though he sneaks out into the streets of 1920's Harlem where he attends rent parties and meets characters such as a man who can read the future with cards.

Yes, No, Maybe So by Becky Albertali and Aisha Saeed is not a book I have read yet, but it is one whose release I am highly anticipating(February 2020). While getting involved in the local political scene, a Jewish boy and a Muslim girl meet and grow close to one another. Activism has been an important part of my own Jewish Experience, which is why I am so excited about the book. I feel like this is going to be a book that EVERYONE needs to read, especially in our present-day world.