Mark, Joshua, and Helen Rapoport prepare to celebrate Chanukkah. Photo by Benjamin Davis

Along with other Jewish people, the Rapoports will be celebrating the festival of Chanukkah on the 25th of December. The Jewish calendar has 13 months based on the 13 moons in a year. Chanukkah takes place on the 25th day of Kislev.

Josh, the youngest Rapoport, age 7, will enjoy helping the family cook the special Chanukkah food. They will make potatoes pancakes, or latkes. The latkes will be cooked in oil symbolizing the oil that lasted eight days in the lamp in the Temple. Josh will also enjoy eating the chocolate Chanukkah gelt, or candy money. “I love the food we make,” said Josh.

Jared and Whitney, ages 13 and 15, like to play dreidel. They spin a square with four sides. On each side there are Hebrew letters which are the first letter of each word in the phrase, “A great miracle happened there.” The game of dreidel is one of the oldest recorded games in history.

Mark and Helen, the parents, explained the origins of Chanukkah. Alexander the Great had just died and his generals split up the empire. Antiochus the Fourth, king of the Syrians, had his soldiers desecrate the Temple in Jerusalem and would not let the Jews practice their religion. “This caused an uprising by the Maccabees,” commented Mark. Judah was the leader of the Maccabees and eventually took over Judea from Antiochus.

The temple was in ruins and Judah, on the 25th of Kislev, rededicated the Temple to God. There is a light in the temple that was supposed to burn eternally, but the oil had been stolen by the Syrians for other purposes. Judah only had enough oil to last one day. He lit it and declared that every year on the 25th of Kislev an eight–day holiday would be celebrated called Chanukkah, also spelled Hanukkah. Chanukkah means dedication.

Helen Rapoport recounted, “I remember reading one quote by a spiritual leader who said that Chanukkah is a holiday to experience when we apply its joy and light to our lives not only with family – but with the entire world.”