Happy Hanukkah everyone! Today marks the start of Hanukkah (also known as Chanukah in some parts) or Festival of Lights. It is an eight-day Jewish holiday marked by lighting eight candles in a menorah, one for each day. Hanukkah (Chanukah) commemorates the restoration of traditional worship and the re-dedication of the temple in Jerusalem after the victory of the Jews over the troops of the Syrian emperor Antiochus. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, and may occur from late November to late December on the Gregorian calendar. This year, it falls on December 22.Hanukkah is celebrated by a series of rituals that are performed every day throughout the eight-day holiday. Some are family-based and others are communal. Hanukkah (Chanukah) isn't like other religious holidays as there is no obligation to refrain from any activity. People go to work as usual, but may leave early in order to be home to kindle the lights at nightfall. After the customary blessing of the lights, many families exchange gifts, partake in traditional meals, play with the dreidel and distribute money to the younger members of the family.
The main tradition, of course, is the lighting of the menorah just after sundown and should be kept lit for at least half an hour. The tradition is to light a single light each night for eight nights. An extra light called a shamash, meaning guard or servant is also lit each night, and is given a distinct location, usually higher or lower than the others. The purpose of the extra light stems from the old prohibition against using the Hanukkah lights for anything other than the Hanukkah (Chanukah) tradition. The lights can be candles or oil lamps. However, electric lights are permissible in places where open flame is not permitted. Lights should be prominently placed near windows, not for decorative purposes but to remind others of the holiday and its miracle.
The Hanerot Halalu hymn is recited during or after the lighting ceremony. Although there are several versions of the hymn, here is the most commonly used version including its translation in English:
Hanneirot hallalu anachnu madlikin 'al hannissim ve'al hanniflaot 'al hatteshu'ot ve'al hammilchamot she'asita laavoteinu bayyamim haheim, (u)bazzeman hazeh 'al yedei kohanekha hakkedoshim. Vekhol-shemonat yemei Hanukkah hanneirot hallalu kodesh heim, ve-ein lanu reshut lehishtammesh baheim ella lir'otam bilvad kedei lehodot ul'halleil leshimcha haggadol 'al nissekha ve'al nifleotekha ve'al yeshu'otekha
We light these lights for the miracles and the wonders, for the redemption and the battles that you made for our forefathers, in those days at this season, through your holy priests. During all eight days of Hanukkah these lights are sacred, and we are not permitted to make ordinary use of them except for to look at them in order to express thanks and praise to Your great Name for your miracles, Your wonders and Your salvations.
The "Ma'oz Tzur" is usually sung on the holiday of Hanukkah, after lighting the festival lights. This Hebrew song is thought to have been written sometime in the 13th century. Of its six stanzas, often only the first stanza is sung (or the first and fifth). Here are the six stanzas of the song both in Hebrew and in English:Ma'oz tzur yeshu'ati, lecha na'eh leshabe'ach.
Tikon beit tefilati, vesham toda nezabe'ach.
Le'et tachin matbe'ah mitzar hamnabe'ach.
Az egmor beshir mizmor chanukat hamizbe'ach.
Ra'ot sav'ah nafshi, byagon kohi kila.
Hayai mareru bkoshi, beshi'abud malkhut egla.
Uvyado hagdola hotzi et hasgula.
Heil par'o vekhol zar'o yardu ke'even bimtzula.
Dvir kodsho hevi'ani vegam sham lo shakateti.
Uva nogesh vehiglani, ki zarim avadti.
Vyein ra'al masakhti, kim'at she'avarti.
Ketz Bavel Zerubavel, leketz shiv'im nosha'ati.
Krot komat brosh bikesh, Agagi ben Hamdatah.
venihiyeta lo (lefah) (u)lemokesh vega'avato nishbata.
Rosh yemini niseta, ve'oyev shmo mahita.
Rov banav vekinyanav al ha'etz talita.
Y'evanim nikbetzu alai, azai bimei Hashmanim.
Ufartzu homot migdalai, vetim'u kol hashmanim.
Uminotar kankanim na'asa nes lashoshanim.
Bnei vina yemei shmona kav'u shir urenanim.
Hasof zroa kodshekha, vekarev ketz hayeshu'a.
Nkom nikmat dam avadeikha me'uma haresha'a.
Ki arkha (lanu) hasha'a, ve'ein ketz limei hara'a.
Dkheh admon betzel tzalmon, hakem (lanu) ro'im shiv'a.
O mighty stronghold of my salvation, to praise You is a delight.
Restore my House of Prayer and there we will bring a thanksgiving offering.
When You will have prepared the slaughter for the blaspheming foe,
Then I shall complete with a song of hymn the dedication of the Altar.
My soul had been sated with troubles, my strength has been consumed with grief.
They had embittered my life with hardship, with the calf-like kingdom's bondage.
But with His great power He brought forth the treasured ones,
Pharaoh's army and all his offspring Went down like a stone into the deep.
To the holy abode of His Word He brought me. But there, too, I had no rest
And an oppressor came and exiled me. For I had served aliens,
And had drunk benumbing wine. Scarcely had I departed
At Babylon's end Zerubabel came. At the end of seventy years I was saved.
To sever the towering cypress sought the Agagite, son of Hammedatha [Haman],
But it became [a snare and] a stumbling block to him and his arrogance was stilled.
The head of the Benjaminite You lifted and the enemy, his name You obliterated
His numerous progeny - his possessions -on the gallows You hanged.
Greeks gathered against me then in Hasmonean days.
They breached the walls of my towers and they defiled all the oils;
And from the one remnant of the flasks a miracle was wrought for the roses.
Men of insight - eight days established for song and jubilation
Bare Your holy arm and hasten the End for salvation -
Avenge the vengeance of Your servants' blood from the wicked nation.
For the triumph is too long delayed for us, and there is no end to days of evil,
Repel the Red One in the nethermost shadow and establish for us the seven shepherds.
Additionally, there are other prayers and songs that are part of Hanukkah. Here is a thanksgiving benediction usually recited during the holidays:
"We thank You also for the miraculous deeds and for the redemption and for the mighty deeds and the saving acts wrought by You, as well as for the wars which You waged for our ancestors in ancient days at this season. In the days of the Hasmonean Mattathias, son of Johanan the high priest, and his sons, when the iniquitous Greco-Syrian kingdom rose up against Your people Israel, to make them forget Your Torah and to turn them away from the ordinances of Your will, then You in your abundant mercy rose up for them in the time of their trouble, pled their cause, executed judgment, avenged their wrong, and delivered the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous, and insolent ones into the hands of those occupied with Your Torah. Both unto Yourself did you make a great and holy name in Thy world, and unto Your people did You achieve a great deliverance and redemption. Whereupon your children entered the sanctuary of Your house, cleansed Your temple, purified Your sanctuary, kindled lights in Your holy courts, and appointed these eight days of Hanukkah in order to give thanks and praises unto Your holy name."
Happy Hanukkah (Chanukah) everyone and I hope you'll have a merry and meaningful holidays ahead. I will leave you with the following 'Hanukkah Blessings' song courtesy of YouTube
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