# Hanukkah

Hanukkah (/ˈhɑːnəkə/ hah-nə-kə; Hebrew: חֲנֻכָּה, Tiberian: Ḥănukkāh, usually spelled חנוכה, pronounced [χanuˈka] in Modern Hebrew, [ˈχanukə] or [ˈχanikə] in Yiddish; a transliteration also romanized as Chanukah or Chanukkah), also known as the Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire of the 2nd century BCE. 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. The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a unique candelabrum, the nine-branched menorah or hanukiah, one additional light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night.

## Quotes

* בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר חֲנֻכָּה. Barukh Atta Adonay Eloheynu Melekh Ha-olam Asher Kiddeshanu Be-mitsvotav Ve-tsivanu Lehadlik Ner Shel khanuka.
** Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by His commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.
*** Traditional blessing in lighting the lights of Hanukkah
* בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁעָשָׂה נִסִּים לַאֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה.‬ Barukh Atta Adonay Eloheynu Melekh Ha-olam She-asa Nissim La-avoteynu Ba-yyamim Ha-hem Ba-zzman Ha-zze.
** Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old, at this season
*** Traditional blessing in lighting the lights of Hanukkah
* In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it "Christmas" and went to church; the Jews called it "Hanukka" and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say "Merry Christmas!" or "Happy Hanukka!" or (to the atheists) "Look out for the wall!"
** Dave Barry in: Snark! the Herald Angels Sing: Sarcasm, Bitterness and the Holiday Season, Skyhorse Publishing Inc., 01-Nov-2011, p. 52
* We thank You also for the miraculous deeds and for the redemption and for the mighty deeds and the saving acts wrought by You, as well as for the wars which You waged for our ancestors in ancient days at this season. In the days of the Hasmonean Mattathias, son of Johanan the high priest, and his sons, when the iniquitous Greco-Syrian kingdom rose up against Your people Israel, to make them forget Your Torah and to turn them away from the ordinances of Your will, then You in your abundant mercy rose up for them in the time of their trouble, pled their cause, executed judgment, avenged their wrong, and delivered the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous, and insolent ones into the hands of those occupied with Your Torah. Both unto Yourself did you make a great and holy name in Thy world, and unto Your people did You achieve a great deliverance and redemption. Whereupon your children entered the sanctuary of Your house, cleansed Your temple, purified Your sanctuary, kindled lights in Your holy courts, and appointed these eight days of Hanukkah in order to give thanks and praises unto Your holy name."
** English translation of the Al ha-Nissim
* Everyone thinks I'm Jewish. I'm not. Last year I got a call: "Happy Hanukkah." I said "Ma, I'm not Jewish."
** Joy Behar, joking about how her New York Italian-Catholic persona is mistaken as being Jewish, as reported in The Boston Globe (20 April 2008), p. 3
* The Feast of Lights: Still ours the dance, the feast, the glorious Psalm, The mystic lights of emblem, and the Word. Where is our Judas?Where our-five branched palm? Where are the lion-warriors of the Lord?
** Emma Lazarus in: The Poems of Emma Lazarus, Volume II: Jewish Poems and Translations, Courier Corporation, 01-Jan-2015, p. 19
* Christmas brings enormous electric bills. Candles are used for Hanukkah. Not only are we spared enormous electric bills, but we get to feel good about not contributing to the energy crisis.
** Harry Leichter in: HBS Alumni Bulletin, Volume 84, Harvard Business School, 2008
* So have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Krazy Kwanzaa, a Tip-Top Tet, and a solemn, dignified Ramadan. And now, a word from my god, our sponsor...
** Tom Martin, in words written for Krusty the Clown, in The Simpsons, Grift of the Magi (19 December 1999)
* Just as Hanukkah candles are lighted one by one from a single flame, so the tale of the miracle is passed from one man to another, from one house to another, and to the whole House of Israel throughout the generations.
** Judah L. Magnes in: Always Look on the Bright Side: Celebrating Each Day to the Fullest, Cleis Press, 22 October 2013, p. 93.
* I feel like a spinning top or a Dreidel The spinning don't stop when you leave the cradle You just slow down Round and around this world you go Spinning through the lives of the people you know We all slow down.
** Don McLean, in Dreidel, on Don McLean (1972)
* The miracle, of course, was not that the oil for the sacred light in a little cruse - lasted as long as they say; but that the courage of the Maccabees lasted to this day: let that nourish my flickering spirit.
** Charles Reznikoff in: The Poems of Charles Reznikoff: 1918-1975, David R. Godine Publisher, 2005, p. 226.
* You can see religion as a battle, a holy war, in which you win a victory for your faith by force or fear. Or you can see it as a candle you light to drive away some of the darkness of the world. The difference is that the first sees other religions as the enemy. The second sees them as other candles, not threatening mine, but adding to the light we share. What Jews remembered from that victory over the Greeks twenty-two centuries ago was not a God of war but the God of light. And it’s only the God of light who can defeat the darkness in the human soul
** Rabbi Sacks in: Gilles Teulié, Laurence Lux-Sterritt War Sermons, Cambridge Scholars, 2009, p. 231.

## External links

* Encyclopedic article on Hanukkah on Wikipedia
* The dictionary definition of hanukkah on Wiktionary
* Media related to Hanukkah on Wikimedia Commons
* Hanukkah at DMOZ