Suggestions for the Eight Nights

1.First Night: Kid Hosted Hanukkah: 1.Our kids always host the first night of Hanukkah. Last year they chose latkes, brownies, and Shirley Temples for dinner followed by playing dreidel.

1.Kids give gifts they made or bought for the family.

2.Second Night: Art Night 2.Water colors, markers, glue, play doh. Use whatever you have at home and craft together.

2.New supplies, funky scissors, art pads.

3.Third Night: Dance Party 3.Turn up the music and dance. All of you.

3.New CD.

4.Fourth Night: Game Night 4.Pictionary? Hullaballoo? Uno? Uninterrupted play time is rare, and treasured.

4.New game.

5.Fifth Night: Lego Night 5.Clear out a space, gather around, and build. Swoon.

5.New lego set.

6.Sixth Night: Puzzle Night 6.Big, small, finish-able, or not, this is one of my favorites.

6.New puzzle.

7.Seventh Night: Family Sleepover 7.Camp out in the family room or everyone pile into one bedroom. I've learned that sleeping bags make everything magical. Trust me.

7.New pajamas.

8.Eighth Night: Baking Night 8.As long as everyone's in the kitchen together measuring, mixing, and stirring, it doesn't matter what you make. Although my vote is always for brownies. Or popcorn balls. Or mini donuts. Yum.

8.Kid aprons, kid recipe book.

A kippah or kipa, also known as a yarmulke, or hech cap, is a hemispherical or platter-shaped skullcap, usually of cloth, often worn by Orthodox Jewish men to fulfill the customary requirement that their head be covered at all times, and sometimes worn by both men and, less frequently, women in Conservative and Reform communities at times of prayer.

 Chai - This symbol, commonly seen on necklaces and other jewelry and ornaments, is simply the Hebrew word Chai (living), with the two Hebrew letters Cheit and Yod attached to each other.

More interesting Information

 The symbolic values of numbers

The number three was the symbol of holiness. The Holy of Holies occupied one-third, and the Holy Place two-thirds, of the entire Temple. The tapestries were ten times three ells in length, and there were three vessels each for the altar of burnt offering, the altar of incense, and the Ark. The candlestick had twice three arms (besides the shaft, which also held a lamp), and each arm had three knobs. The blessing of the priest consisted of three sections, and in the invocation of God the word "holy" was repeated thrice.

The symbolism of the number four was based on the contemplation of the quaternity as found in the universe, which included both heaven and earth. The number four connoted heaven as the throne of God.

The Holy of Holies was in the form of a cube, and the Holy Place was a double cube in length. All the vessels of the Temple in Jerusalem (except the candlestick) were rectangular. According to Ezekiel i. 26-28, the number four symbolized the divine revelation, while in the view of Philo it was the number of complete harmony.

The number five typified semicompletion. The dimensions of the curtain of the Holy of Holies were four ells by five; the altar in the court covered a surface of five square ells; and there were five pillars at the entrance to the Tabernacle.

The number six symbolizes imperfection.

The number seven was the general symbol for all association with God, and was the favorite religious number of Judaism, typifying the covenant of holiness and sanctification, and also all that was holy and sanctifying in purpose. The candlestick had seven lamps, and the acts of atonement and purification were accompanied by a sevenfold sprinkling. The establishment of the Sabbath, the Sabbatical year, and the year of jubilee was based on the number seven, as were the periods of purification and of mourning. The number 7 is the Divine number of completion.

The number eight symbolizes new beginnings. According to Kaballah in the Zohar the number eight number signifies this because the eight day was the first day after creation when God returned to work; the week began again.

The number ten symbolized absolute completeness. The court to the Tabernacle was ten times ten ells long, and five times ten ells wide, and in the Holy of Holies the Ten Commandments were preserved.

The number twelve, being the product of three and four, typified the union of the people with God. On the table were twelve loaves of show-bread, and the breastplate of the priest contained twelve precious stones as emblems of the twelve tribes of Israel, which camped round about the Sanctuary.

The number thirteen symbolizes the principles of faith and God's mercy.

The number eighteen is considered significant because the Hebrew word for "life" is (chai), which has a numerical value of 18.

The number twenty six symbolizes God's name.

Hanukkah: 5 Holiday Lessons to Unwrap!

 

The Festival of lights

About 160 years before the historic events that Christians celebrate at Christmas, the Jewish people were struggling under the oppressive occupation of a Syrian-Greek invader, Antiochus IV. Delighting in the perverse, he sacrificed a pig in to his pagan gods in the Jewish Temple, forbade Israel from observing their faith in they way they had for centuries – ever since Moses came down from Mount Sinai. Furthermore, Antiochus was determined to blot out Hebrew culture. Alarmed, a small group, the Maccabees, inspired a rebellion.

The Maccabbees recaptured and rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem and re-lit the candelabra that was to remain lit at all times. In the two millennia since, their heroism has been celebrated each year at Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. Their courage offers lessons for people of all faiths wrestling with today’s challenges. Here, from authors Ellen Frankel and Rabbi Baruch HaLevi, are five spiritual lessons that Hanukkah can teach us all.

When the Maccabees revolted against the darkness, they chose outward action. When it came time to rededicate both themselves and their Temple, they called upon inward meditation to take the first step of faith in using the tiny amount of available oil to reignite the sacred light of the Temple and to rekindle their souls. As the story of the miracle of Hanukkah goes, they only had enough sacred oil to last for one day. Here's the miracle that Hanukkah commemorates: The oil burned for eight days, long enough for more to get past Antiochus' strangling blockade of Jerusalem.

 During Hanukkah, an additional candle is lit each night, culminating in eight flames. It reminds us that by simply lighting one candle, we have the opportunity to light many candles. We see that our own light is never diminished when we share our light with others. As the days grow shorter and the air chills, the celebration of Hanukkah shines into the darkness and teaches us to rededicate ourselves to kindling the flame of hope.

 The Festival of Lights is also a story about seeking freedom in times of tyranny. Though small in number against a powerful group, the Maccabees fought to regain their rights. In the end they triumphed, as will all who trust on the Almighty.

 The Maccabees were ordinary people with extraordinary courage and commitment to fight for their freedoms. Today, we see people both at home and abroad who are oppressed and marginalized. We are reminded that it is incumbent upon us all to fight for justice and liberty. It is important that we fight for our own freedoms as well as those of our fellow humans. As Rabbi Hillel so famously said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

Finding the Balance. The concept of “assimilation” figures large in the story of Hanukkah, write Frankel and HaLevi in Revolution of Jewish Spirit. How does a community or a group maintain its identity in relation to the culture at large? How much will it resist outside influences and how much will it embrace those influences? When the Maccabees revolted against the Syrian-Greeks, they were also revolting against a Hellenistic culture and philosophy. Yet as a result of living within the culture at large, Judaism moved from being philosophically illiterate to becoming a systematic and coherent faith. From the Greeks, and later the Romans, they learned the principles of legal interpretation which became the method of interpreting Jewish law in the Talmud.

Taking the first step. Everyday we are faced with daunting tasks. Solving the deficit, fighting discrimination, ending wars and seeking a more peaceful world. It can feel overwhelming just thinking about it – let alone figuring out where to even begin. As the story of Hanukkah goes, when the Maccabees returned to their Temple after the war, the first thing they needed to do was to re-light the eternal flame.

 But the needed oil was eight days away. It would be easy to despair, after years of fighting and now realizing they were lacking the resources needed to move forward. But, as the story is told, the Maccabees decided it had been too long since the eternal light had been ignited and so they took a first step. Despite having only enough oil for one day, they committed themselves to starting the process of rededicating themselves and the Temple by starting where they were, and taking it one day at a time.  

 

 Whether factually true or not, we celebrate the fact that the oil miraculously burned for the needed eight days until more oil could be made. But the miracle only happened after people took the first step. In this story, we are reminded of the words of the Talmud: "It is not upon you to finish the work, but you are not free to ignore it.” We each have a role to play in creating a better world by taking that first step, and then the next and the next.