III.

Modern Celebration of Hanukkah

The principal feature of present-day Hanukkah celebrations is the lighting of candles, one the first night, two the second, and so on until eight candles have been lit in a special candelabrum called a menorah. A Hanukkah menorah has eight branches and a holder for an extra candle that is used to light the others. (A seven-branched menorah that also has its origins in biblical times is now a symbol for the state of Israel.) A blessing is said each night as the Hanukkah candles are lit.

Hanukkah is a festive family occasion, with special foods and songs. Children generally receive small gifts or money, known as Hanukkah gelt (money), each evening after the candles are lit. Foods fried in oil, such as latkes (potato pancakes) and doughnuts, commemorate the miracle of the oil. Sweet foods also are popular, and children may receive chocolate coins in place of Hanukkah gelt. Songs also play a part in the festivities and remind the family of the events commemorated.

Traditionally, Hanukkah was one of the only times that rabbis permitted games of chance. Children sometimes play games with a spinning top called a dreidel during the eight days of the festival. Before play, each player puts a certain number of coins, candies, or another object into a “pot.” One player then spins the dreidel. Each of the four sides of the dreidel bears a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and the side that lands up when the dreidel stops spinning indicates which part of the pot the player will receive. The Hebrew letter nun indicates “nothing”; the letter gimel, “all”; hei, “half”; and shin, “put in” or “match the pot.” Over time, these letters came to stand for the Hebrew phrase Nes gadol haya sham (“A great miracle happened there”). Children also play by guessing which letter will appear when the dreidel stops, with the winner claiming the pot.

In Israel, the letter pei, for the word po (“here”), is substituted for shin on the dreidel, changing the resulting phrase to “A great miracle happened here.”