Hanukkah or Chanukah!

No matter how you spell the word, it's always a festive holiday. The foods associated with this holiday are oily, greasy, fattening and, oh so good! Last night we celebrated the holiday with a party at my sister's home. Many of our family and friends come each year to celebrate together.

The evening is always a fun and meaningful event. Lighting the Hannukkiyah's with all of us singing the prayers (or not singing) is an emotional and wonderful experience as we light a Hannukkiyah for each family present. Many people around the world light one for all the people who are not able to, either because they are still being oppressed or because they live in places, still, where Jews are looked down upon.

Hanukkah is celebrated by those of the Jewish faith. The story of Hanukkah is thus: The Syrian/Greek army prevented the Jews from honoring their faith in the Temple in Jerusalem. In 165 BCE, the Temple was taken over by the Syrian/Greek army and they began to oppress the Jews even more by using the Temple to sacrifice pigs (a non-kosher animal) on the alter of the Temple, among many other destructive things.

They proclaimed that all Jews should worship before idols and pray to Greek gods. When the Jews refused, a small goup of them formed an army of their own and went into hiding to plan their attack. The leader of this army was known as Mattathias, son of Judah Macabee. Macabee, in Hebrew, means Hammer. This small army of Mattathias, his brothers, and many other Jews, fought against the Greeks for three years, finally defeating them.

Now that they had regained the Temple, it had to be rededicated, which is what Hanukkah actually means in Hebrew – re-dedication. The Macabees, along with the Jews of Jerusalem, began to rebuild the destruction created by the Syrian/Greek army. After compleing this task they needed to re-light the enternal light, known as  N'er Tamid, but found only enough oil to light it for one day.

This eternal light is called a menorah, which has a place for eight candles. Finding a small amount of oil, they lit the menorah. The miracle of Hanukkah is that the oil, which was only enough for the one day, burned for eight days and eight nights. The menorah is also known as a Hannukkiyah, which is a candleabrum with nine candles having one candle, which is higher, called the Shammus or Shamas, in Hebrew.

This is the one lit all across the word for Hanukkah. The Shamas is lit first (the highest candle) and then it is used to light all the other candles. Each night one candle is lit until all eight are burning on the last night, placing the Shamas back in the highest position.

Now that you all know the story of Hanukkah, the food associated with it, as stated above, before I decided to tell you the whole story, is of course, all made with oil. Some of the foods made annually on Hanukkah are latkes - made with potatoes and onions then fried to perfection, if you have a great recipe, which I do.

Sufganiyot are jelly doughnuts, which my daughter Jane also made to perfection.

You can make anything you want, basically, and fry it in oil to make it symbolic of the evening the Temple was re-dedicated. It is not a very important holiday in the religious aspect, but it is festive and a celebration of religious freedom.

If you'd like my latke recipe, post a request and I will post the recipe on my blog. For those of you celebrating Hanukkah – Happy Hanukkah; and for those of you celebrating Christmas – Merry Christmas.

Shalom (Peace)  to you all.