Menschkins Hanukkah

Hanukkah is the eight-night Jewish Festival of Lights. It remembers how, more than 2,000 years ago, the Maccabees took back the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and dedicated it again. The word Hanukkah means “dedication.”

Hanukkah begins on the 25th of the Hebrew month of Kislev, usually in late November or December, and lasts eight nights. Each night begins at sundown.

When the Temple was rededicated, there was only enough pure oil to light its menorah for one day, but it lasted for eight. We light a Hanukkah menorah, also called a hanukkiah, to remember that miracle, adding one more candle each night.

The shamash is the helper candle. It sits a little apart from the other eight and is used to light them.

A dreidel is a four-sided spinning top. Its Hebrew letters, nun, gimel, hei, and shin, stand for “Nes gadol hayah sham,” which means “A great miracle happened there.”

Latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) are fried in oil, which reminds us of the oil that lasted eight nights.

Gelt means money. Many families give chocolate coins or a little real money on Hanukkah, and use the holiday to give tzedakah, sharing with people in need.

The Menschkins Present The Story of Hanukkah is a family experience book for children ages 3–8: the Hanukkah story told by the six Menschkins, with coloring pages and activities to do together.