Login / Register
Judaism

Hanukkah (meaning dedication) is a minor Jewish holiday.

It is one of the only Jewish holidays not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Yet it is still much-loved by many Jews.

Hanukkah celebrates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greek army. It also celebrates a miracle that happened at that time.

After the revolt, the Jews reclaimed the Temple from the Syrian Greeks. They cleansed and rededicated the Temple. But when they tried to light the menorah (a candelabra, like the one pictured here), they found only a small amount of oil. Miraculously, that little bit of oil lasted for eight days. This is one of the reasons Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight days.

Today, many people celebrate Hanukkah by lighting the menorah (also known as a hanukiah), eating foods fried in oil, playing games like dreidel, and singing songs.

Many people place their menorah in the window or join in public celebrations and menorah lightings.

Stained Glass Image 6

Text adapted from Simple English Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0.

20230118152605 IMG 6454 by Rei Norden on Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 4.0.

Related Resources

Shavuot

Havdalah

Seder

Dreidel

Simchat Torah / Shemini Atzeret

Jewish Sunday School Image 11

Jewish Sunday School Image 2

Jewish Sunday School Image 10

Jewish Sunday School Image 1

Jewish Sunday School Image 3

Jewish Sunday School Image 4

Jewish Sunday School Image 5

Jewish Music Image 2

Jewish Sunday School Image 9

Jewish Sunday School Image 8

Jewish Sunday School Image 7

Tallit

Purim

Bar Mitzvah

I Always go on High Holy Days

Bar and Bat Mitzvahs

Wearing the Tallit

Bar and Bat Mitzvahs big parties

My Bat Mitzvah

Music and Dance at Bat Mitzvah

Sukkot

Festivals

Chanukah

Yom Kippur

Festival Overview

Lots of Festivals

Rosh Hashanah

The Eight Day Miracle of Chanukah

The Story of Purim

Festivals Are Fun

Purim!

Passover – Pesach

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

Three Times A Day

Explanation of Shema

Various Symbols

Two Tablets

Instructions for Making a Dreidel

Recipe Purim Hamantashen

Dreidel – The Game

Dreidel Template