Hanukkah
Hanukkah meaning "dedication" in Hebrew, refers to the joyous eight-day celebration during which Jews commemorate the victory of the Maccabees over the armies of Syria in 165 B.C.E. and the subsequent liberation and "rededication" of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is celebrated by lighting the hanukkiyah, a special menorah for Hanukkah; foods prepared in oil including latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts); and special songs and games.
Click here to read about the history of Hanukkah.
PJ Library Easy Hanukkah Guide
11 Great, Modern Hanukkah Songs
Sun, November 29 2020
13 Kislev 5781
Global Hanukkah Cuisine: What We Eat and WhyOn Hanukkah, we traditionally serve holiday dishes cooked in oil to commemorate the miracle of a single vial of oil lasting eight days. But oil as the Hanukkah food of choice was not always so.
One thousand years ago, in the warmer climates of the Mediterranean, Middle East, and North Africa, the Hanukkah specialty dish was a cheese latke (pancake), which commemorated Judith's heroic efforts to save her people during the second century B.C.E. As the story (told in the Apocrypha) goes, the Syrian General Holofernes was sent to Bethulia (due east of Caesarea) by King Nebuchadnesser to annihilate the Jews. To make him thirsty, the beautiful Judith fed him salty cheese, followed by wine...
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