A cartoon I saw a number of years ago depicted a teacher asking a student to spell the final word in the final round of a school spelling bee. The teacher asked the student to correctly spell the word “Chanukah.” The joke is that there is no one way to spell the word in English. It can be spelled – with or without a “C” at the beginning, with one “n” or two, with one “k” or two and with or without an “h” at the end. There is, however, of course a correct way to spell it in the original Hebrew.
The root of the word "Chanukah" is dedication, because it celebrates the time that the Jews living in ancient Judea successfully fought for their freedom and rededicated the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, which the Romans had desecrated and defiled.
One of the commandments associated with the holiday is to publicize the miracle. But what is the miracle that is supposed to be publicized?
The holiday celebrates the victory of the few over the many and the victory of a small minority who fought for the right to be different, to preserve their religious observances and not to assimilate over 2,000 years ago. We celebrate the event as a victory of God over the forces that sought to extinguish Judaism and the Jewish people.
Another explanation of what we celebrate and what miracle to publicize stems from a legend composed centuries later. It contends that when the Macabees who led the battle came to the site of the Temple, they found there was only one jar of oil that was pure, that had not been subjected to contaminated use by the pagans whom they had just defeated and driven out of the Temple.
It is because of this legend that a number of foods are associated with Chanukah. A favorite is potato pancakes, called “latkes," which are fired in oil. In Israel, a kind of donut also fried in oil, called “sufganiyot," has a similar connection.
On each of the eight nights of the holiday a candle is used to light other candles in a candelabrum.The first night, one candle is lit, the second night, two, and so on. In so doing, we are reminded of our responsibility to increase and add to the light in the world. Although it is often called a menorah, the correct term for it is a “chanukiyah.”
While Chanukah falls in December, due to the nature of the Jewish calendar, which seeks to harmonize a calendar calculated based on the moon and the cycle of the sun, it can move around. Sometimes it may be early in December. Sometimes it could be later in the month. One thing it is not though – it is not the Jewish version of Christmas, which after all has a correct spelling.