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Light It Up!D E C E M B E R 1 5 – 2 3 , 2 0 0 6

2 4 K I S L E V – 2 T E V E T , 5 7 6 7}{

© 2006 by The Shluchim Office, Design © 2006 by Spotlight Design, Texts written by Tzvi Freeman — Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

What is Chanukah? Chanukah is a lesson in life—perhaps the mostimportant lesson you’ll ever learn. Chanukah isthe story of light defying darkness.

All of us struggle with darkness—whether it befrom within our own selves or from the big,scary world out there. Chanukah comes tosay: Don’t fight with shadows. Instead, lighta candle and the darkness will run away.

What’s a candle? A candle is a mitzvah—a divinelybeautiful deed, handed to us straight from Heaven touplift our world and make it into a divinely beautifulplace. Nothing is more powerful than a mitzvah.

So, as the sun’s light dwindles and the days shorten,we light one small candle. The next day, we light two. Day byday, the light becomes stronger until we reach the power ofeight—a number that represents a power beyond nature, a miraculous power.

There are so many lessons to be learned from Chanukah, but let’s starthere: When darkness looms, make more light. Do more good. Add anothermitzvah to your life and make your lamp grow day by day. It may seem asmall thing, tiny in comparison to the darkness out there. But never under-estimate the power of light. Like in the story of the Maccabees, just a littlebit of light can chase away a whole lot of darkness.

Special Edition:

For every night of Chanukah,there’s a page in this brochure.Gather your family/friends/people-off-the-street to lightthe menorah. Follow the instructions on the bottom ofthat day’s page. Then have some-one read the page out loud.

Some pages have an activity. All of them leave you with something to talk about. Eachday has its own light-it’s up toyou to bring it out.

1Ever since Alexander the Great made

peace with Jerusalem, we paid ourtaxes and minded our own business.

Then a megalomaniac named AntiochusEpiphanes rose to power. Epiphanes meansbeloved of the gods—and Antiochuscouldn’t handle anyone having arelationship with any god besideshimself. So he ransacked ourholy temple in Jerusalem. Thenhe outlawed circumcision,Shabbat and Tefillin—basically, anythingthat has to do withJewish identityand ourrelationship withthe single andindefinable G-d.

Many Jews defied thesedecrees and died asmartyrs. Finally,when Antiochusraised statues of Zeus in the towns anddemanded that people worship them, apriestly family of the Hasmoneandynasty rose up in revolt. They calledthemselves the Maccabees. This was thefirst time a war was fought not overterritory or power, but for religiousfreedom and rights.

Problem was, five brothers of the priestlyclass were no match for the most powerful

army in the world. Miraclewas, they won anyways.Problem was, the Greekskept coming back withbigger armies and—to

really make a point—with armoredelephants. More Jewscame to join the Maccabees and thebattles became more and more

absurdly miraculous. In fact, theymanaged to chase those

Greeks out ofJerusalem, clean upthe desecrated templeand declareindependence.

Night One:

{ THE STORY-PART I }

Friday, Dec. 15: Light your menorah first, Shabbat candlessecond—at the candle-lighting time on your calendar. Light one candle, say Blessings 1, 2 & 3 (see last page)

From this story we learn that:

>> Megalomania is NOT an effective strategy to achieve long-term goals.

>> Messing with Jewish identity is dangerous.

>> Being a tax-paying citizen is nice, but sometimes you have to stand upfor your rights.

>> Even intelligent, gentle animals like elephants can be roped into playing the bad guy.

2When the Maccabees recaptured

Jerusalem and entered the HolyTemple, they found a

very big mess—idols,pork chops and bro-ken beer bottleseverywhere. Sothey tidied up andrededicated theTemple.

Problem: The six-footgolden Menorah has tobe lit with pure olive oil,undefiled by those whoare ritually impure. All theoil in the Temple has beendefiled by the Greeks.There’s no one to make newoil, since everyone is rituallyimpure, having just fought awar and killed people.

Solution: Get some new olive oil.

Problem: The best olive oil comes from theorchards of Tekoah—three days jour-ney away. Go there, get the oil andcome back—that’s seven days. Noone wants to use second-class oil,but who wants to wait?

Solution: A miracle—in twoparts:

a) Someone found a bottle ofpure oil hidden beneath thefloor, sealed with theinsignia of the High Priest.

b) Even though it was asingle flask with justenough oil for onenight, it lasted foreight days.

{ THE STORY-PART II }

From this story we learn that:

>> The war between darkness and lightdoes not follow the numbers game.

>> Live supernaturally and G-d willprovide the miracles. (Doing mitzvahsis pretty supernatural.

>> When it comes to a mitzvah, use only the best.

>> Miracles are hiding under your feet,waiting for you to expect them

Night Two:

The choicest olives from which oilwas prepared for the Temple

Menorah grew around the city ofTekoah, belonging to the tribe of Asher.

Jacob blessed Asher with the words,“Asher’s bread shall be fat and he

shall yield royal dainties.” (GENESIS 49:20)

Saturday Night, Dec. 16: light Two candles After Shabbat &Havadala, light two candles, say Blessings 1 & 2 (see last page)

3High on a hill in Jerusalem is a place

where heaven kisses earth. There,the Jews were commanded to

build a temple, a sort of gateway forprayers to go up and Divine light to comedown. To amplify the signal of light andshine it to the rest of the world, thepriests of the temple lit an elaborate six-foot golden menorah, according to preciseinstructions relayed by Moses.

Your Chanukah menorah is reminiscentof the menorah of the Temple. But whichis more powerful? The answer may comeas a surprise:

1. The menorah in the Temple was litduring the day. You light your meno-rah at nightfall. Your menorah facesthe darkness head-on.

2. The menorah in the Temple waslit within a chamber of theTemple, illuminat-ing the world indi-rectly. Your meno-rah is placed in pub-lic view, illuminatingthe world directly.

3. The menorah in theTemple can only be lit as long asthere is a Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

Yours is lit in every generation.

4. The menorah in the Temple could onlybe lit in one specific place. Your menorahcan be lit anywhere in the world.

5. A dictator could ban the lighting of theTemple menorah. But he can’t ban light-ing a Chanukah menorah. Anyone cansimply light a candle and say he needsthe light.

…but all this stems from one pivotal distinction:

6. The menorah in the Temple had sevenbranches. Seven is about nature—like the

seven days in which the worldwas made. Your

Chanukah menorahhas eight. Eight isone step abovenature—as is thelight of your meno-rah. And so, this isa light that not onlypushes away the

darkness—it cantransform that dark-

ness into light. Even ifsomething looked sinister

and evil, the light ofChanukah can turn its power

towards the good.

{ MENORAH POWER }Night Three:

Sunday Night, Dec. 17: light three candles, say Blessings 1 & 2 (see last page)

4Remember the gragger, that noise-

making device you spin on Purim?Well, the Chanukah dreidel also

gets spun—but with a different twist: Thegragger is held below and spins abovewhile the dreidel is held from above andspins below.

It all has meaning: On Purim, the impetuscame from below, through human efforts,and G-d responded. But the main miraclewe celebrate on Chanukah is the miracleof the oil in the Menorah. G-d demonstrat-ed how He can turn the laws of nature justas we spin a dreidel.

You’ll need:

1. A dreidel with four sides. On each sideis a Hebrew letter: Nun, Gimmel, Hay, andShin. These stand for the Hebrew words,“Ness Gadol Haya Sham.” That means,“A great miracle happened there.”

2. Some coins, candies orCheerios™.

The Rules:

1. Everyone contributes equallyto the pot.

2. Take turns spinning the dreidel. If it lands on:

Nun—get nothing. Bang fist on table.

Gimmel—take the whole pot. Everybody cheers.

Hay—take half the pot. Everybody says, “oooohhhh.”

Shin—pay into the pot. Everybody says, “aaaawwww.”

3. If the pot emptiesout, everyone con-tributes equallyonce again.

4. You can alwaysraise the ante, ask-

ing everyone tomatch the

amount you addto the pot.

{ THE DREIDEL }Night Four:

When Antiochus forbade Torah study,Jews studied together in secret. If theyheard a Greek soldier approaching, theywould quickly take out their dreidels andpretend they were playing.

Monday Night, Dec. 18: Light four candles, say Blessings 1 & 2 (see last page)

5

Where this custom started, nobody reallyknows. Some theorize it has to do withthe coins minted by the Hasmoneans

when they established their rule. The coins borethe image of the Temple Menorah. But mainly,we want our kids to look forward toChanukah and learn something from it—and this is a great way to do that.

Line up the kids and give them each a fewcoins. Parents do it, teachers too.

Nowadays, they have us doing this for eightdays straight, but the big day has alwaysbeen day five—the first day that there is morelight than darkness.

Once you get to the last day, teach your kids howto give ten percent of their cash holdings to a goodcause. Then take them to a quality toy store andguide them in investing in lasting, meaningfulacquisitions. Who knows, they might even letyou play with them!

{ CHANUKAH GELT }Night Five:

The Hebrew word ‘Chanukah’ shares the same rootas the word ‘Chinuch’ — Education. During Chanukahwe focus our attention on matters affecting theJewish education of children. This is one of the reasons it is traditional to give ‘Chanukah gelt’ tochildren on Chanukah.

Tuesday Night, Dec. 19: Light five candles, say Blessings 1 & 2 (see last page)

6Since the miracle happened with oil

(the olive oil in the menorah), we eatoily foods on Chanukah, such as

donuts and potato latkes. The miracle isthat we eat them for eight days and survive.

Oil also symbolizes the secret wisdom ofthe Torah known as the Kabbalah. Like oilseeps through a fabric, this wisdom per-meates every aspect of the Torah. Yet, asoil remains separate and floats abovewater, the Kabbalah always remains justbeyond our grasp.

Night Six:

{ CHANUKAH NOSH }

On the first night of Hannukah in 1997, a 12-foothigh pyramid made of 6,400 sufganiyot (fried jellydonuts) was erected near the Israeli town of Afula.The pile was dismantled later, and the sufganiyot were distributed to Israeli soldiersserving along the border with Lebanon. Theattempt to get into The Guinness Book of WorldRecords was sponsored by a food store chain.

Wednesday Night, Dec. 20: Light six candles, say Blessings 1 & 2 (see last page)

Traditional DonutsDonuts, an old-fashioned treat, are never quite as good when store-bought. Try them homemade!

Ingredients:

1 ¾ ounces fresh yeast 1 ½ cups warm water 1 Tbsp. sugar 3 eggs ½ cup oil ½ cup sugar ½ cup non dairy creamer 1 tsp. Vanilla extract 1 tsp. Grated lemon peel 6 to 7 cups of flour

AAllssoo:: Oil for frying Confectioners’ sugar

UUssee:: 2-quart pot

YYiieellddss:: 5 to 6 dozen donuts

In a large mixer bowl: place eggs, oil, sugar, nondairy creamer, vanilla, and gratedlemon peel. Add yeast mixture; add flour until soft dough is formed. (Dough neednot be dry; it should be softer than challah dough.) Knead for a few minutes.Cover and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1-½ hours.

Roll out dough ½-inch thick on floured surface. Cut out circles with a doughnut cutter.

Place 2 or 3 inches oil in a 2-quart saucepan and heat over a mediumflame until hot. Place four donuts at a time in the oil. Brown onone side and then on the other. Remove with slotted spoon. Drainand cool on paper towels. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Note: To test if dough is ready for rolling, place a small piece in aglass of water-if the dough floats to the top, it is ready.

7You know those elegant Greek

columns? They first appeared in theland that is now Israel hundreds of

years before Greek civilization. So did thestandard layout of a Greek villa. And I’msure you realize that the Greek alphabetwas an adaptation of the early Hebrewalphabet. Many Greeks believed that Greekphilosophy, too, came from the Hebrews,who they considered “a nation of philoso-phers.” Greek thinkers embraced the ideaof a single “mind” at the core of all things—where do you think they got it from?

Turns out that these Greeks were reallyfascinated by the Jews. There was just onething they couldn’t handle: The Jewish ideaof a super-rational, intimate bond with a

transcendent G-d. They had no problemwith Jews studying Torah as they wouldmathematics or biology. They had noproblem with cultural rituals. But the ideaof doing something simply because, “The

Creator of the Universe wants this done”—that did not fit into the Greek worldconcept. No wonder they banned thosemitzvahs that most represented this idea.

Interestingly, then, that of these twocultures, it is the Jewish people that hasendured as a living entity. Because for asociety to survive, it cannot be based on humanreason alone.

Think about it:

Can you make a perpetual motionmachine? No. Because a machine can’t runitself.

Can you make a system of logic with noassumptions? No. Because logic can’texplain itself.

So too, the bedrock of a sustainable socie-ty must be a connection and a bond withsomething entirely transcendent.Something beyond reason.

{ BEYOND REASON }Night Seven:

The Greek army marched in analmost invincible configuration

called a phalanx—a compact formation of overlapping shieldsand long spears. How the civilianbrigades of the Maccabees beatthem remains a mystery.

Thursday Night, Dec. 21: Light seven candles, say Blessings 1 & 2 (see last page)

8The Maccabees regained Jerusalemthanks to a brave woman namedYehudit. She served salty cheese and

strong wine to the Greek governor ofthe city and then, as he slept a deep

sleep, took his sword and decapitated him.

The basic requirement for aChanukah menorah is for oneperson in each household tolight one candle. Even better isfor every person in the house-hold to light a single candle.The best is for each person to increase thenumber of candles each day by one. Itbecame Jewish custom for everyone to doChanukah in the very best way.

Adam was the first person to celebrateChanukah. When he saw that the sunwas setting earlier each day, he fret-ted that the world was coming toan end due to his sin. When the sol-

stice came, he realized it was a cycleand celebrated by lighting lamps.

Chanukah means “dedication”because they rededicated theTemple at that time. It also canbe broken into three words:Chanu-chaf-hey–which means“they rested (from fighting) on the25th.” The 25th of the Hebrew month ofKislev is the first day of Chanukah.

The students of the great sage,Shammai, lit eight candles on thefirst day of Chanukah and

decreased each day—since eachday there is less and less darkness.

According to the Kabbalah, in messianictimes we will all follow their custom.

The longest top spin on record wasset by Hall Graham on December18th, 1998 at Woodstock HighSchool in Georgia. It spun fortwo hours, fifteen minutes andeleven seconds.

The first satellite hookup ofChanukah Menorah lightings

around the world took place in1989 and linked Jews in 10 coun-

tries. It was also the first timethat images of Moscow Jewry

were broadcast to the Western world.

The miracle of Chanukah tookplace long after the Torah wasgiven, but it is alluded to in theTorah’s 25th word, ‘Ohr’, mean-ing ‘Light.’ Chanukah, theFestival of Lights, begins on the25th day of Kislev.

Friday, Dec. 22: Light your menorah first, Shabbat candlessecond—at the candle-lighting time on your calendar.Light eight candle, say Blessings 1, 2 & 3 (see last page)

Night Eight:

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{ EIGHT NEAT FACTS }

Your Chanukah Menorah may looksimple, but used properly it is apowerful device for blasting the uni-

verse with an extreme form of supernaturallight, thereby increasing truth, justice andkindness in the world and significantlyweakening the powers of darkness. Here’s how to do it:

1. All the lampholders of your menorahshould be of even height and in an evenline, except for the shamash (servicecandle), which should be higher thanthe rest.

2. The optimum place for a menorah is ina doorway, opposite the mezuzah.Windowsills are good, too.

3. Everyone in the house can light theirown menorah. A married couple is con-sidered one person, so the husbandlights for both of them.

4. On the first night, light the candle fur-thest to the right. Each day, add anotherto the left. Always light the new one first.

5. The right time to light is at nightfall,

about 20 minutes after sunset. You maylight earlier, but make sure your haveenough oil to burn until ½ hour afternightfall.

6. On Friday afternoon, everything shouldbe lit 18 minutes before sunset. Don’teven think of lighting after sunset. Youmay need more oil and longer candlesto last until ½ hour after nightfall.

7. Got home late? As long as someone’saround to see the menorah you can stilllight. After that, light without a blessing.

8. Women, take a break. We know you’dlove to be in the kitchen preparingsupper, but Jewish women have thiscustom to take time out while themenorah burns. How long? Anywherefrom half an hour to an hour.

{ HOW TO LIGHT }Instructions:

Want to really shine this Chanukah? Use olive oil.After all, that’s how the miracle happened the first time around. Olive oil menorahs are available at any Judaica store-or make one yourself.

Blessings

1 Baruch Atah Ado-noi Elo-hei-nu Melech Ha-olam Asher Ki-de-sha-nu Be-mitz-vo-sav

Ve-tzi-vanu Le-had-lik Ner Cha-nu-kah

2Baruch Atah Ado-noi Elo-hei-nu Melech Ha-olam Sheoso Ni-sim La-avo-seinu

Ba-yo-mim Hoheim Bi-z’man Ha-zeh.

3Baruch Atah Ado-noi Elo-hei-nu Melech Ha-olam She-heh-che-yah-nu

Ve-kiye-ma-nu Ve-hi-gi-ah-nu Liz-man Ha-zeh.

äðøåú äììå àðå îãìé÷éï, òì äúùåòåú, åòì äðéñéí, åòì äðôìàåú, ùòùéú

ìàáåúéðå áéîéí ääí áæîï äæä, òì éãé ëåäðéê ä÷ãåùéí. åëì ùîåðú éîé çðåëä,

äðøåú äììå ÷åãù äí, åàéï ìðå øùåú ìäùúîù áäï, àìà ìøàåúï áìáã,

ëãé ìäåãåú åìäìì ìùîê äâãåì, òì ðéñéê åòì ðôìàåúéê, åòì éùåòåúéê.

After lighting, say or sing this:First say this:

We kindle these lights [to commemorate] the saving acts, miraclesand wonders which you have performed for our forefathers, in thosedays at this time, through your holy Kohanim. Throughout the eightdays of Chanukah, these lights are sacred, and we are not permittedto make use of them, but only to look at them, in order to offerthanks and praise to Your great Name for Your miracles, for Yourwonders and for Your salvations.

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