Hanukkah is one of the happiest Jewish events for many Jewish Americans. Many families light candles on the hanukiah, a type of candle holder, eat sizzling potato pancakes, give gifts and play with the dreidel, a spinning toy that is particularly popular during Hanukkah. The last day of Hanukkah is the eighth day of Hanukkah.
Full Answer
What happens on the last day of Hanukkah?
The last day of Hanukkah marks the end of Hanukkah, also known as Chanukah or Festival of Lights. Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish observance that remembers the Jewish people's struggle for religious freedom. Candles are lit during the Hanukkah period. What Do People Do? The last day of Hanukkah is the eighth day of Hanukkah.
Why is Hanukkah important to Jews?
Although a relatively minor holiday in strictly religious terms, Hanukkah has attained major cultural significance in North America and elsewhere, especially among secular Jews, due to its occurring around the same time as Christmas. The name "Hanukkah" derives from the Hebrew verb " חנך ", meaning "to dedicate".
What are the rituals of Hanukkah?
Rituals. Many families exchange gifts each night, such as books or games, and "Hanukkah Gelt" is often given to children. Fried foods (such as latkes ( potato pancakes ), jelly doughnuts ( sufganiyot ), and Sephardic bimuelos) are eaten to commemorate the importance of oil during the celebration of Hanukkah.
Do Jews observe Hanukkah outside the home?
Jewish law does not require Jews to observe Hanukkah anywhere outside the home. However, some special liturgy and readings are added to the daily and Shabbat prayer services that take place during Hanukkah.
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What do you do in the last day of Hanukkah?
Each night, one additional candle is lit by the shammash until all eight candles are lit together on the final night of the festival. Other Hanukkah festivities include singing Hanukkah songs, playing the game of dreidel and eating oil-based foods, such as latkes and sufganiyot, and dairy foods.
What do you say at the end of Hanukkah?
“Hanukkah Sameach!” (meaning, “Happy Hanukkah!”) “Chag Sameach!” (meaning, “Happy Holiday!”) “Chag Urim Sameach!” (meaning, “Happy Festival of Lights!”)
What is done on each day of Hanukkah?
Hanukkah is celebrated in several ways. In addition to lighting each day one candle on the menorah, religious rituals can include daily reading of Scripture, recitation of some of the Psalms, almsgiving, and singing of a special hymn.
Do you light a candle on the last day of Hanukkah?
One candle is lit on the first night of Hanukkah, and an additional candle is lit on each successive night, until, on the eighth night, the Chanukiah is fully illuminated.
Is it rude to say Happy Hanukkah?
It's safe, easy to use, and doesn't create confusion. So regardless of your celebration style or religious orientation, if someone wishes you a Merry Christmas on December 23rd, 24th, and 25th please do not be offended. That is not the time for a philosophical debate.
What are 3 interesting facts about Hanukkah?
The holiday commemorates the triumph of a band of rebel Jews known as the Maccabees in reclaiming their temple from the Greek-Syrians.2 Hanukkah lasts for eight nights, to commemorate how long the holy light burned. ... 5 Hanukkah dishes are fried for a reason. ... 7 Hanukkah is not the most important Jewish holiday.More items...•
What do you do on the second night of Hanukkah?
0:071:27Blessings for the second night of Hanukkah - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd when you light them you will like the night that we are on tonight we are on the second nightMoreAnd when you light them you will like the night that we are on tonight we are on the second night and we will be saying to blessings. Tonight. You use the Shama SH to light our candles.
What are 4 special Hanukkah traditions?
6 Hanukkah Traditions to Celebrate the Festival of LightsLighting the Menorah. ... Playing Dreidel. ... Eating Fried Food. ... Hanukkah Gelt. ... Giving Gifts. ... Hanukkah Music.
Why does Hanukkah last 8 days?
Even though there was only enough untainted olive oil to keep the menorah's candles burning for a single day, the flames continued flickering for eight nights, leaving them time to find a fresh supply. This wondrous event inspired the Jewish sages to proclaim a yearly eight-day festival.
Do you light the menorah on the last night of Hanukkah?
Step 1: Know Your Timing You're supposed to light the menorah just after dark each night of Hanukkah. (However, many families wait until everyone is home together, and light it then.) On Fridays, the menorah is lit before dark to avoid lighting on Shabbat.
What is a shamash candle?
The shamash or shammus is the "helper candle". It is the ninth candle for the Hanukkah menorah, also known as the Hanukkiah/Chanukiah. It is lit before the prayers are said and the other candles are lit. Shemash was the ancient Babylonian sun-god.
What are the 3 Hanukkah blessings?
Hanukkah Blessings: Learn the 3 Hanukkah PrayersHanukkah Blessings: Chant Before Lighting the Candles.Hanukkah Blessings #1: Blessing Over the Candles.Hanukkah Blessings #2: Blessing about Miracles.Hanukkah Blessings #3: Shehecheyanu.
Why is Hanukkah the last day of the year?
Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish observance to commemorate the Jewish people's struggle for religious freedom.
What is the first day of Hanukkah?
The first day of Hanukkah marks the start of eight-day Hanukkah period. It is marked as the 25th day of the month of Kislev in the Jewish calendar. The Hanukkah period ends on the second day of the month of Tevet. It is important to note that many Jewish observances begin at sunset on the day before.
What is the happiest Jewish holiday?
Hanukkah is one of the happiest Jewish events for many Jewish Americans. Many families light candles on the hanukiah, a type of candle holder, eat sizzling potato pancakes, give gifts and play with the dreidel, a spinning toy that is particularly popular during Hanukkah. The last day of Hanukkah is the eighth day of Hanukkah.
How long did the oil last in the Temple?
It is believed that there was only enough consecrated oil to keep the lamp burning for one day but the small bottle of oil miraculously lasted for eight days. Hanukkah, also known as Chanukah, is referred as the Feast of Lights or Festival ...
Is Chanukah a public holiday?
Is Last Day of Chanukah a Public Holiday? This is not a public holiday in the United States. Most businesses, schools, and offices are open and follow regular hours, but Jewish-run businesses and organizations might be closed. It is a Jewish tradition for candles to be lit during Hanukkah.
Do Jewish holidays last longer?
Jewish Holidays Last Longer Outside of Israel. In the Jewish diaspora—Jewish communities outside of Israel—an extra day is usually added to religious observances, with the exception of Yom Kippur, which lasts only one day worldwide, and Rosh Hashana, which is celebrated over two days in both Israel and the diaspora.
Is Hanukkah a federal holiday?
The last day of Hanukkah is not a nationwide federal holiday in the United States. Many Jewish schools have their school vacation fall around the same time of Hanukkah.
How many nights does Hanukkah last?
It is also known as the Festival of Lights ( Hebrew: חַג הַאוּרִים , ḥag ha'urim ). Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar.
Why is Hanukkah important?
In North America especially, Hanukkah gained increased importance with many Jewish families in the latter part of the 20th century, including among large numbers of secular Jews, who wanted a Jewish alternative to the Christmas celebrations that often overlap with Hanukkah. Diane Ashton argues that Jewish immigrants to America raised the profile of Hanukkah as a kid-centered alternative to Christmas as early as the 1800s. This in parts mirrors the ascendancy of Christmas, which like Hanukkah increased in importance in the 1800s. During this time period, Jewish leaders (especially Reform) like Max Lilienthal and Isaac Mayer Wise made an effort to rebrand Hanukkah and started creating Hanukkah celebration for kids at their synagogues, which included candy and singing songs. By the 1900s, it started to become a commercial holiday like Christmas, with Hanukkah gifts and decorations appearing in stores and Jewish Women magazines printing articles on holiday decorations, children's celebrations, and gift giving. Ashton says that Jewish families did this to maintain a Jewish identity distinct from mainline Christian culture, but on the other hand the mirroring of Hanukkah to Christmas helped Jewish families and kids feel American. Though it was traditional among Ashkenazi Jews to give "gelt" or money to children during Hanukkah, in many families this has been supplemented with other gifts so that Jewish children can enjoy gifts just as their Christmas-celebrating peers do. Children play a big role in Hanukkah, and Jewish families with children are more likely to celebrate it than families without, and sociologists hypothesize that this is because Jewish parents do not want their kids to be alienated from their peers who celebrate Christmas. Recent celebrations have also seen the presence of the Hanukkah bush, which is seen as a Jewish counterpart to the Christmas tree. Hanukkah bushes are generally discouraged today by most rabbis, but some Reform, Reconstructionist and more liberal Conservative rabbis do not object, even to Christmas trees.
What is the Hebrew word for Hanukkah?
In Hebrew, the word Hanukkah is written חֲנֻכָּה or חֲנוּכָּה ( Ḥănukkāh ). It is most commonly transliterated to English as Hanukkah or Chanukah. The former spelling ( Hanukkah ), which is based on using characters of the English alphabet as symbols to re-create the word's correct spelling in Hebrew, is the most common and the preferred choice of Merriam–Webster, Collins English Dictionary, the Oxford Style Manual, and the style guides of The New York Times and The Guardian. The sound represented by Ch ( [ χ], similar to the Scottish pronunciation of loch) is not native to the English language. Furthermore, the letter ḥeth ( ח ), which is the first letter in the Hebrew spelling, is pronounced differently in modern Hebrew ( voiceless uvular fricative) from in classical Hebrew ( voiceless pharyngeal fricative [ ħ] ), and neither of those sounds is unambiguously representable in English spelling. However, its original sound is closer to the English H than to the Scottish Ch, and Hanukkah more accurately represents the spelling in the Hebrew alphabet. Moreover, the 'kaf' consonant is geminate in classical (but not modern) Hebrew. Adapting the classical Hebrew pronunciation with the geminate and pharyngeal Ḥeth can lead to the spelling Hanukkah, while adapting the modern Hebrew pronunciation with no gemination and uvular Ḥeth leads to the spelling Chanukah.
How many candles are lit on Hanukkah?
Each night, one additional candle is lit by the shamash until all eight candles are lit together on the final night of the festival. Other Hanukkah festivities include singing Hanukkah songs, playing the game of dreidel and eating oil-based foods, such as latkes and sufganiyot, and dairy foods.
What are some of the foods that are eaten during Hanukkah?
Fried foods (such as latkes ( potato pancakes ), jelly doughnuts ( sufganiyot ), and Sephardic bimuelos) are eaten to commemorate the importance of oil during the celebration of Hanukkah.
How long do Hanukkah lights burn?
Hanukkah lights should usually burn for at least half an hour after it gets dark. The custom of many is to light at sundown, although most Hasidim light later. Many Hasidic Rebbes light much later to fulfill the obligation of publicizing the miracle by the presence of their Hasidim when they kindle the lights.
Where is Chanukah in Germany?
Chanukah Menorah opposite Nazi building in Kiel, Germany, December 1932. Hanukkah festival at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, December 2019. Public Hanukkiah lighting in Brussels next to the Berlaymont building, the headquarters of the European Commission, 2020. Hanukkah celebrated in the Polish Sejm, Warsaw.
What is the significance of Hanukkah?
Hanukkah celebrates the Maccabees’ rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its defilement by the Syrian Greeks in 164 BCE. According to rabbinic tradition, the holiday also commemorates the miracle of the oil: one day’s supply of oil for the Temple’s lamp lasted eight days.
What month is Hanukkah?
Hanukkah always falls on the 25th of the Hebrew month of Kislev, which usually is sometime in December. Because the Jewish calendar is a combination of solar and lunar, the date on the Gregorian calendar fluctuates each year. Learn more about how the Jewish calendar works.
What is a Hanukkah candelabra?
A hanukkiah is a candelabra specifically for use on Hanukkah. However, many people call it a menorah or Hanukkah menorah — you usually can tell from context when a person is referring to a Hanukkah candelabra and not a general lamp. Learn more about the Hanukkah menorah (or hanukkiah, if you prefer). Learn how to light the Hanukkah menorah.
When does Hanukkah start?
So, while your calendar may say Hanukkah starts on December 13, it actually begins the preceding evening. Learn more about the Jewish calendar.
Is Hanukkah in the Bible?
The Book of Maccabees, in which the Hanukkah story is detailed, was not included in the Hebrew Bible and is instead in a category of texts called Apocrypha. For centuries, some Jews used to read the story from an Aramaic-language scroll called The Scroll of Antiochus, which detailed the Maccabees’ victories and added numerous legends.
Did Jews exchange gifts on Purim?
American Jews used to exchange gifts on Purim, but in the late 19th century there was a shift from Purim to Hanukkah. Christmas, which falls at the same time of year, became a national holiday in America at this time, and the Jewish custom of gifts on Hanukkah shifted as the Christian holiday’s consumerism grew.
Is Hanukkah a Hebrew word?
Hanukkah is a Hebrew word (spelled חנוכה in Hebrew), not an English one, and there is no standard transliteration. My Jewish Learning uses “Hanukkah,” but “Chanukah,” “Chanukka” and “Hanukka” are also common spellings.
What Do People do?
Public Life
- The last day of Hanukkah is not a public holiday in Israel but it is the school holiday period. This event is also not a public holiday in countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Some Jewish schools in these countries and other countries have a vacation period that coincides with Hanukkah.
Background
- Hanukkah commemorates the successful rebellion of the Jewish people against the Syrians in the Maccabean War of 162 BCE, but the military associations of this festival are played down. What is really being celebrated is the survival of Judaism. After the Jewish people's victory they ritually cleansed and rededicated the Temple, then re-lit the menorah or “perpetual lamp”; hence one of t…
Symbols
- The eight-branched Hanukkah menorah, or candle holder, is an important element that symbolizes the tradition of Hanukkah. It relates well with why the holiday is called “the festival of lights”. The menorah is lit from the left side to the right and people say blessings when the menorah is lit. There are many different styles of the menorah – in many cases the ninth holder, known as the s…
Jewish Holidays Last Longer Outside of Israel
- In the Jewish diaspora—Jewish communities outside of Israel—an extra day is usually added to religious observances, with the exception of Yom Kippur, which lasts only one day worldwide, and Rosh Hashana, which is celebrated over two days in both Israel and the diaspora. This custom has its roots in ancient times when the beginning of the months in the Jewish calendar still relie…
Overview
Hanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights (Hebrew: חַג הַאוּרִים, Ḥag HaUrim), is a Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BCE.
Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kisl…
Rituals
Hanukkah is celebrated with a series of rituals that are performed every day throughout the eight-day holiday, some are family-based and others communal. There are special additions to the daily prayer service, and a section is added to the blessing after meals.
Hanukkah is not a "Sabbath-like" holiday, and there is no obligation to refrain fr…
Etymology
The name "Hanukkah" derives from the Hebrew verb "חנך", meaning "to dedicate". On Hanukkah, the Maccabean Jews regained control of Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple.
Many homiletical explanations have been given for the name:
• The name can be broken down into חנו כ״ה, "[they] rested [on the] twenty-fifth"…
Historical sources
The story of Hanukkah is preserved in the books of the First and Second Maccabees, which describe in detail the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem and the lighting of the menorah. These books, however, are not a part of the canonized Masoretic Text version of the Tanakh (Hebrew and Aramaic language Jewish Bible) used and accepted by normative Rabbinical Judaism a…
Story
After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, Judea became part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt until 200 BCE when King Antiochus III the Great of Syria defeated King Ptolemy V Epiphanes of Egypt at the Battle of Panium. Judea then became part of the Seleucid Empire of Syria. King Antiochus III the Great, wanting to conciliate his new Jewish subjects, guaranteed their right to "live ac…
Customs
A large number of songs have been written on Hanukkah themes, perhaps more so than for any other Jewish holiday. Some of the best known are "Ma'oz Tzur" (Rock of Ages), "Latke'le Latke'le" (Yiddish song about cooking Latkes), "Hanukkiah Li Yesh" ("I Have a Hanukkah Menorah"), "Ocho Kandelikas" ("Eight Little Candles"), "Kad Katan" ("A Small Jug"), "S'vivon Sov Sov Sov" ("Dreidel, Spi…
Dates
The dates of Hanukkah are determined by the Hebrew calendar. Hanukkah begins at the 25th day of Kislev and concludes on the second or third day of Tevet (Kislev can have 29 or 30 days). The Jewish day begins at sunset. Hanukkah dates for recent and upcoming:
• Sunset, 22 December 2019 – nightfall, 30 December 2019
• Sunset, 10 December 2020 – nightfall, 18 December 2020
Symbolic importance
Major Jewish holidays are those when all forms of work are forbidden, and that feature traditional holiday meals, kiddush, holiday candle-lighting, etc. Only biblical holidays fit these criteria, and Chanukah was instituted some two centuries after the Hebrew Bible was completed. Nevertheless, though Chanukah is of rabbinic origin, it is traditionally celebrated in a major and very public fash…