28 Hanukkah Facts That Shed Some Light On This Beautiful Holiday

He accepted a Menorah in 1951 as a gift from Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion.

Rosh Hashanah and Passover are actually considerably more important to Judaism than other Jewish holidays.

Beginning on the Hebrew calendar date of 25 Kislev, Hanukkah 2022 begins at nightfall on December 18, 2022 and ends with nightfall on December 26, and will last for eight days.

While on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1993 to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, Jeff Hoffman brought a travel-sized menorah and spun a dreidel. His mini Hanukkah celebration was broadcasted via satellite to people on Earth.

His 1996 comedy album, "What the Hell Happened to Me?", featured the song after it appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1994. The song spawned a part 2 in 1999, a part 3 in 2002, and a part 4 (which includes a Drake shout-out!) in 2015 from the same artist. Any Jewish child who grew up in the 1980s or 1990s will likely credit a Rugrats Chanukah as the other incredibly influential piece of popular culture.

Hanukkah and the events that led up to it are not mentioned in the Torah since the Maccabean Revolt took place after the Torah was written, according to History.com. Rosh Hashanah and Passover, which are Jewish holidays, are usually more important.

When you consider the foods eaten during Hanukkah, most of them are fried, including latkes, sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts), apple fritters, and kugel. It's not a coincidence that during Hanukkah, people fry their meals in oil as a representation of the miracle oil that lasted for eight nights without burning out.

Hanukkah, Hannuka, Chanukah, and a variety of other spelling variations have all been used to refer to this holiday. All of the spellings are correct, though Hanukkah is the most widely used. It could be spelled in a number of ways, all of which are equally correct, because there is no direct way to convert the Hebrew sounds to English.

On each night of the holiday, one additional candle (starting from the right side) is lit from the center "Shamash" candle, according to Chabad. In total, 44 candles are lit throughout Hanukkah, but most Hanukkah candle packages for your menorah will come with eight.

The celebration honors the success of a group of rebel Jewish fighters known as the Maccabees in taking back their temple from the Greek-Syrians.

The Jews barely had enough oil for one night, but the temple had to have a sacred light burning within at all times. Amazingly, the light lasted for eight days.

A candelabra with nine candles is known as a menorah. There are four on either side and a candle in the middle that will light up all the other candles. The shamash is this, and it is situated above (or strangely apart from) the other candles.

Starting around the 16th century, a spinning top with letters printed on its side was played in both Germany and England. In order to interact with the Torah, European Jews adopted the game and used Hebrew characters in place of the German and English ones. The dreidel is now used all through the holiday season.

This year, from December 2 to December 9, you can watch the lighting of the Menorah, which stands 32 feet high and weighs 4,000 pounds.

Many festival delicacies are cooked in oil to celebrate the miracle of the oil lasting eight days, especially: the beloved sufganiyot (or jelly donuts).

On this holiday, Jews have a custom of giving their kids gelt, or golden-wrapped chocolates that resemble coins, as a reward for learning the Torah. A game of dreidel is another way to win gelt.

Also, you need a cherry picker to reach the top because it is 30 feet tall!

Shredded or mashed potatoes are shallow-fried to create latkes, also known as potato pancakes. Although latkes are a traditional Hanukkah dish, there is still a lot of room for innovation. Here are some ideas for modernizing this traditional recipe.

The Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hay, and shin on the dreidel stand in for more than just the rules of the customary top-spinning Hanukkah game. In actuality, they are employed as an abbreviation for "nes gadol hayah sham," or "a great miracle happened there," a Hebrew expression used to explain the miracle of the oil's endurance.

Giving money to one another for Hanukkah used to be traditional. But as Christmas gained popularity, an increasing number of Jews started exchanging gifts.