December 11, 2017
Introduction: In this article – to help celebrate Hanukkah, which begins tomorrow – Gena Philibert-Ortega writes about food and activities your whole family can enjoy for this special Jewish holiday. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”
Hanukkah 2017 begins tomorrow evening and continues until the evening of December 20th. Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that “commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt…”* Hanukkah activities include eating fried foods, playing dreidel games, exchanging presents, and lighting the Menorah.
Here are a few ideas for celebrating Hanukkah, as found in the pages of GenealogyBank’s online Historical Newspaper Archives.
Teaching Kids about Hanukkah
The newspaper is a great place to find activities geared toward children. While the comics page has cartoon strips that appeal to the child in all of us, many newspapers have pages specifically for their younger readers.
This 1993 section in the South Carolina Post and Courier provides kids with the history behind Hanukkah, a recipe for potato latkes, how to make a dreidel, and a word search. The page doesn’t answer all of the questions kids may ask about the holiday, but it’s a good supplement for learning more. Of course, no newspaper kid’s page would be complete without a corny joke – and this page’s contribution is: “Why did the dreidel cross the road? Because it was the chicken’s day off.”
Other kid’s pages honoring Hanukkah can be found in the newspaper, including this 1987 example that focuses on the symbols of Hanukkah such as the dreidel, the menorah, and gelt.
Food
Most people think of potato latkes and jelly donuts at Hanukkah, but there are other foods you may want to consider adding to your celebration. This 1984 newspaper article provides recipes for a Hanukkah pudding and a Dreidel cookie which can be topped with an orange or chocolate glaze.
True confession time: I LOVE potato latkes. Just thinking about having some latkes with sour cream or applesauce makes me hungry. Of course, the newspaper is the perfect place to find a recipe for this Hanukkah treat. Eating foods fried in oil during Hanukkah symbolizes the miracle during the rededication of the temple by the Maccabees in 165 BCE, when the menorah burned for eight days with only one day’s worth of oil.
One of those fried foods you may want to try this month is potato latkes. Here’s one recipe to get you thinking about making them for your family.
The Dreidel
I have a little dreidel,
I made it out of clay.
And when it’s dry and ready,
A dreidel game I’ll play.
If you’re not familiar with the dreidel, this newspaper children’s page includes a column called “Ask me a question” that can help.
That response is brief and doesn’t explain that the letters found on each side of the dreidel are from the Hebrew alphabet and are: נ (Nun), ג (Gimel), ה (Hei), ש (Shin).** One way to play the dreidel game is for each player to put a piece of something in the “pot” (chocolate coin, penny, etc.) and then each person spins the dreidel once. Depending on which letter is facing up determines what the player does:
If נ (nun) is facing up, the player does nothing.
If ג (gimel) is facing up, the player gets everything in the pot.
If ה (hei) is facing up, the player gets half of the pieces in the pot.
If ש (shin) is facing up, the player adds a game piece to the pot.***
This 1988 newspaper article also explains how to play the dreidel game, and provides a dreidel template so that you can make your own.
Happy Hanukkah
What are your Hanukkah plans? Any family traditions that you’re looking forward to? Don’t forget that you can find more Hanukkah articles and recipes in GenealogyBank’s Jewish American Newspaper Archives.
Have a Happy Hanukkah!
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* “Hanukkah,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah: accessed 9 December 2017).
** “Dreidel,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreidel: accessed 9 December 2017).
*** Ibid.
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