Blog Post - Hanukkah and how it’s celebrated
Julie Rudolph – a member of the Club’s finance team – has penned a short blog on Hanukkah and how it’s celebrated.
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Chanukah is one of three-foot festivals in the Jewish religion which all last for eight nights. The Jewish faith goes on the Luna Calendar which is why all festivals start in the evening of the day before and end when the sun goes down the next day.
The candles are lit one on the first night and then going up to eight on the last night. A candle which stands out from the others as shown on the Menorah is call the Shammash and is the helper that lights all the other candles. You cannot use a match to light the candles.
My family and I would all get together on each night then after saying a short blessing we would light the candles using the Shammash. We would then eat any foods which are cooked in oil usually doughnuts or latkes. The children would then play with the Dreidel each of the Hebrew letters makes up a saying Ness Gadol Haya Sham which in English means a Great Miracle Happened Here.
The game the children play is about each of the letters which are worth 1,2,3,4 points, if you spin the dreidel the letter you land is worth however many points and after four spins whoever has the most points wins. We would also exchange small gifts and give a little charity on each of the eight nights.