Chanukah

Chanukah is eight days, from December 5 to 12, 2026, 25 Kislev to 2 Tevet 5787. Like every Jewish day, its first day begins the evening before, at sunset on December 4.

What the holiday is for. More than two thousand years ago Judea was under the rule of the Greek Seleucid Empire: the Temple in Jerusalem was defiled and the service in it was forbidden. The revolt raised by the Hasmonean family, known as the Maccabees, ended with the Temple being won back and dedicated anew. The word "chanukah" means "dedication".

The jug of oil. The Talmud tells that when they came to light the menorah, they found a single jug of pure oil with its seal unbroken, enough for one day. Yet it burned for eight, until new oil was prepared. The miracle here is deliberately quiet and homely: not a parted sea, but a jug of oil.

Light in the window. The chanukiah is placed where it can be seen from outside, by a window or by the door. This is called publicising the miracle: the light is not for ourselves. Every evening one more light is added, one today, two tomorrow, and so on up to eight; the ninth, the shamash, is the helper candle used to light the others. As for the order and time of lighting on Friday evening and after Shabbat ends, it is better to ask a rabbi: there are some fine points.

What we eat. Everything fried in oil: latkes, which are potato pancakes, and sufganiyot, doughnuts filled with jam, which make it impossible to walk past a bakery in December. There is also a dairy custom; more about it below.

The dreidel. A spinning top with four letters: in the Land of Israel they spell "Nes gadol haya po", "A great miracle happened here"; outside it, "happened there". People play for nuts, sweets or coins; children still receive Chanukah money, Chanukah gelt.

A women's holiday too. Chanukah is linked to the memory of Yehudit, a woman whose courage, according to tradition, saved a besieged city; that is where the dairy foods on the table come from. And there is a warm custom: while the candles burn, women put their housework aside and simply sit next to the lights. Half an hour a day when nobody owes anything to anyone adds up to a surprising amount over eight evenings.