How to Teach Children the Meaning of Hanukkah

Hanukkah is the Jewish festival of lights. Although it has less religious significance than the Jewish High Holy Days, it is still a well-loved midwinter festival.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Candles
• Dreidels
• Menorahs
• Canola Oil
• Olive (not Virgin) Oil
• Potatoes
• Candles

1. Explain the history of the holiday to your children. In 165 B.C.E., the Jewish Maccabees managed to drive the Syrian army out of Jerusalem and reclaim their temple. The temple then had to be rededicated, since the Greek-influenced Syrians had taken it over as a temple to Zeus.

2. Discuss the legend of the menorah. When the Jews prepared to rededicate their temple by relighting the "eternal flame," after driving out their oppressors, they had just enough consecrated oil to burn for one day, but the oil miraculously lasted for eight days until new oil arrived to fuel the flame. This is why Jewish families light candles or burn oil in a menorah for the eight days of Hanukkah, adding one candle each day.

3. Discuss the timing of the holiday. Hanukkah is celebrated on the 25th day of the Jewish calendar month of Kislev ' this usually, but not always, falls in December. Show your children a Jewish calendar, and explain to them why Hanukkah falls on a different day every year.

4. Show your children a dreidel, and explain how it works. The dreidel is a spinning toy with four Hebrew letters, one on each side. The letters - shin, hey, gimel and nun - are the first four letters of the Hebrew words "A Great Miracle Happened Here." There are many variations of the dreidel game, but it is basically a game of chance.

5. Serve Hanukkah foods. Traditionally, Jewish families eat foods that are fried in oil at Hanukkah, since oil is such an important part of the holiday's history. In most families, this means potato latkes ' crispy potato pancakes ' and other fried foods.

6. Teach your children prayers and songs for Hanukkah. Find a book that contains what you need to know, or ask your rabbi or cantor to make some suggestions.

7. Make a Hanukkah box for younger children. A Hanukkah box contains one small gift for each of the eight days of the holiday, and is one way that many families choose to commemorate the eight-day miracle of the oil in a way that children can appreciate and understand.

8. Find age-appropriate books that will help to educate your children about Hanukkah, and about other elements of Jewish history and heritage.

Tips & Warnings

• Dreidels, and even menorahs, are great crafts projects for kids to make or decorate.
• If you are preparing a Hanukkah feast, be sure to make lots of latkes ' they disappear fast.
• Make sure your children are extra careful in the kitchen at Hanukkah time since many foods are fried in very hot oil.