By Laura Puzio and Susan Alpert
Download Mp3 Format
Read by Laura Puzio, Nursery School Teacher
All over the world each year, Jewish families polish the family Chanukiah to get ready for Chanukah, The Festival of Lights.
“Chanukah , Oh Chanukah come light the Menorah, Let’s have a party we’ll all dance the hora. Gather round the table, we’ll give you a treat. Dreidel to play and latkes to eat. And while we are playing, the candles are burning bright. One for each night ; they will shed their sweet light, and remind us of days long ago, and remind us of days long ago.”
The story of Chanukah begins a long time ago in Israel. There, the Jewish people lived and worked. Israel was ruled by a cruel Syrian King, whose name was Antiochus. He wanted the Jewish people to pray to many gods and idols. But the Jews said “NO! We only have one G-d!”
“Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad”
This made Antiochus very angry. He wanted Jews to worship Greek gods, not their G-d. He banned Jewish holidays, burned holy Jewish books, and forced the Jews to bow to his idols.
In a special city called Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, there was a place that was very special and important to the Jews, called the “Beit HaMikdash”, or “The Holy Temple”. It was the most beautiful building ever, because it was dedicated to G-d. Jews came from all over Israel to celebrate and worship there.
“Yerushalayim shel zahav; v’shel nechoshet v’shel or ; Halo lechol shirayich; Ani kinor”
An old Jewish man, named Matityahu and his sons, including Yehuda, were angry at the cruel king, and wanted to fight for their freedom! They formed a small army called the Maccabees. Maccabee in Hebrew means “Hammer”, for the way they fought.
The Maccabees only had sticks, stones, and farm tools to fight the Syrian army, but they WON against the Syrians, who had much bigger weapons, like swords and elephants! When the Jewish army won; they were so happy. IT WAS A MIRACLE!!!! They won because they felt G-d inside them, and it gave them special strength.
“Not By Might, and Not By Power- but by spirit alone (RUACH!) Shall we all live in peace. Not by might, and not by power- but by spirit alone, shall we all live in peace.”
After the fight was over, the Jews returned to their special holy temple in Jerusalem. They were so sad to find that books, Torahs, holy objects and candles were gone or destroyed. The Jews worked hard to clean and rebuild the Temple. The only thing they found was a drop of olive oil to burn in the “Neir Tamid”, the “Eternal Flame”. There was only enough for one day. BUT THEN, A GREAT MIRACLE HAPPENED! The oil lasted not one, not two, not three… but EIGHT nights! That is why Chanukah is now eight days and nights long.
“On this night, let us light one little candles fire; tis a sight, oh so bright; one little candles fire. On this night, let us light eight little candles fire; tis a sight, oh so bright; eight little candles fire”
“Chanukah” means ‘dedication’, because the Maccabees re-dedicated the temple after it was destroyed, and turned it back to a Holy and special place. We celebrate Chanukah because it reminds us of how good it is to be free and for that wonderful “nes” or miracle of the oil!
“Rock of Ages let our song, praise thy saving power, Thou amidst the raging foes, was our sheltering tower. Ma-oz tsur y’shu-ati, l’cha na-eh l’shabei-ach; Ti-kon beit t’filati v’sham toda n’zabeiach”
We celebrate Chanukah by spending time with our families, eating latkes and sofganiot (doughnuts!), playing dreidel, and lighting the Chanukiah. We say “Brachot” (blessings) on the candles. We light one candle each night, for eight nights, using a special helper candle called the “shamash”. The letters on the dreidel are: NUN, GIMMEL, HEI, and SHIN. They tell us that “NES GADOL HAYA SHAM” (“A Great Miracle Happened There (in Israel!)”) Latkes and Sofganiot are fried in “shemen” (oil), and taste so yummy! All these things help to remind us of the miracle of the oil.
“I’m a little latke, round and flat- you eat me on Chanukah, how about that? I taste good with applesauce, sour cream too! I’m gonna eat some, how about you?”
“S’vivon, sov sov sov! Chanukah hu chag tov. Chanukah hu chag tov. S’vivon sov sov sov! Chag simcha hu la-am, Nes, Gadol, Haya, Sham;Nes, Gadol, Haya, Sham, Chag simcha hu la-am”
