Answer: Kislev
Hanukkah begins at sundown on the 25th of Kislev. Kislev is the third month of the Jewish calendar. While the Gregorian calendar is solar, the Jewish calendar is lunar. This means that they do not align the same way every year. Kislev coincides with November or December on the Gregorian calendar. It has thirty days most years, but some years it has only twenty-nine days, similar to the Gregorian month of February.
From Quiz: Eight Crazy Nights
Answer: Clay
According to the song, "I have a little dreidel, I made it out of clay; And when it's dry and ready, then dreidel I shall play". Actually, most modern dreidels are made of wood, glass or metal (such as aluminium, silver, or gold, with or without precious gemstones depending on your budget), but almost any material could be fashioned into the traditional shape, which has four flat sides (sometimes with truncated corners producing an additional four smaller faces), a curved bottom surface that comes to a point on which the top can spin, and a handle to hold it with. The Yiddish words to the song, 'Ikh Bin A Kleyner Dreydl', make the actual dreidel the singer of the song, and it says that it is made out of lead.
From Quiz: I Have a Little Dreidel
Answer: Lights
Even though it is not as important as other holidays such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Chanukah is often considered an important Jewish holiday because Kislev usually falls in December, which is also the month of Christmas, therefore making December a celebration month for both Jews and Christians.
From Quiz: A Quiz on Chanukah
Answer: 5
Matisyahu was an elder of the Jewish town of Modi'in. When the Greeks tried to force the Jews to sacrifice to the Greek gods, Matisyahu refused - and slew the first Jew who betrayed his religion to do so. 'Follow me, all of you who are for God's law and stand by the covenant!' All those who followed him and his five sons (Yehuda (Judah), Eliezer (Elazar), Yohanan, Yonaton, and Shimon) formed a guerrilla army.
From Quiz: Chanukah
Answer: Rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem
In 175 BC Antiochus IV, one of the kings to have power in Greece after the death of Alexander the Great, had declared himself to be Epiphanes. He forced everyone to build statues of him and worship him. Everyone had to adhere to strict Hellenism, meaning everyone had to speak Greek and follow Greek culture and religion.
Shortly after a defeat by Egypt in 169 BC, he went to Israel and was in a state of wrath from his previous defeat. Upon entering Jerusalem, he randomly killed citizens, went to the Holy Temple, stole gold and silver from it, and took the incense altar, the table, and the menorah. He forced the Jews to quit sacrificing to their God and went so far as to use the Jewish people's altar to sacrifice pigs. He forbade them to keep their kosher diet, follow the circumcision of males, or study scriptures, and anyone who disobeyed and got caught was killed.
One man, Judah, known as Judah the Maccabee (literally "Judah the Hammer"), led a revolt with a small group of men. The Syrian-Greek army thought they would harass them and it would stop them fast enough. But the according to tradition, the LORD overthrew the Syrian-Greek army. And for years, the Maccabees then fought battles against Antiochus' army. They lost battles, and they won battles. Then finally they won against great odds.
From Quiz: Eight Crazy Nights
Answer: Latkes
Latkes, also known as levivot, are fried potato pancakes, often served with cheese or sour cream and flavored with onion or garlic. These are made to celebrate how very little oil was enough to light a candelabrum for eight days!
Matzah and charoset are usually eaten in Passover, when Jews celebrate how they escaped from slavery in Egypt.
From Quiz: All About the Blue and White Holiday: Hanukkah!
Answer: Antiochus IV
Antiochus IV Epiphanes was a king of the Seleucid Empire. Many years before him, King Alexander the Great had conquered places like Syria, Egypt and what is now known as Palestine, where Jewish populations were numerous. Alexander allowed them to continue practicing their own religions, but under the rule of Antiochus IV, Jews suffered oppression. The Jewish temple had a Hellenistic priest in order to discredit the temple as Jewish.
From Quiz: A Quiz on Chanukah
Answer: At least two
Any number of players can participate in the game, making it excellent in its flexibility to accommodate everyone who wants to play. Of course, a game with only two players will be much shorter than one with more players. The number of times the dreidel is spun before a game ends depends on both the number of players and (the square of) the number of playing pieces with which each player starts ('Advances in Applied Mathematics', Volume 36, Issue 1, January 2006, Pages 85-94). Yes, mathematicians got to play a children's game in order to publish their paper.
From Quiz: I Have a Little Dreidel
Answer: Clay
The English version of "I Have a Little Dreidel" was composed by Samuel E. Goldfarb, and the lyrics were written by Samuel S. Grossman. The song is basically about a kid creating a dreidel and then playing with it. The first and most famous lyrics go: "I have a little dreidel, I made it out of clay, and when it's dry and ready, then dreidel I shall play".
The dreidel is a spinning top that has four Hebrew letters, one on each side of the top. The letters usually form the phrase "a great miracle happened there" or "a great miracle happened here", in Israel.
From Quiz: All About the Blue and White Holiday: Hanukkah!
Answer: Judah Maccabee
Judah, son of Mattathias, led the revolt with his father and succeeded. They also fought with Judah's brothers: Eleazar, Simon, John and Johnathan, and with the Chasidim, a religious group which has nothing to do with the modern Chasidim, but is a forerunner of the Pharisees, a movement that encompasses all Jewish movements in history.
The king had destroyed the Jewish temple, so after Mattathias and Judah were victorious, the temple was rededicated.
From Quiz: A Quiz on Chanukah
Answer: Chashmonaim
They were known as Chashmonaim, or Hasmonean in English. They were called that after the town of Chashmona.
From Quiz: Chanukah
Answer: shamash
"Shamash", or helper in English, is the candle in the middle. The menorah used at Hanukkah is technically called a "Chanukkiah". The Menorah with seven branches were in the First and Second Temples of Jerusalem. The shamash sits a bit higher or lower than the others to help identify it.
From Quiz: Eight Crazy Nights
Answer: Syria
After Alexander the Great's empire split up, 'Judea' flipped between two parts of the former empire, one based in Egypt under Ptolemy and one in Syria under Antiochus. It was against Antiochus IV that the Macabbees rebelled.
From Quiz: Chanukah
Answer: oil
They needed pure olive oil to light the menorah. All of the oil had been spiritually defiled except for one small flask.
From Quiz: Chanukah
Answer: Take everything in the pot
The letter Gimmel stands for the Yiddish word 'gantz', meaning 'everything'. This lucky player gets to empty the pot. All players are then required to place more pieces in the pot. All players add the same number each time, but it need not always be the same number as at the start of the game.
From Quiz: I Have a Little Dreidel
Answer: Lights
Hanukkah is a celebration of victory, marking the occasion when the Jews avoided a Greek invasion after the destruction of the temple. The story tells that with a very little amount of oil, they managed to keep the menorah lighted for days, making Hanukkah a celebration of lights.
From Quiz: All About the Blue and White Holiday: Hanukkah!
Answer: Potatoes
Known as levivot, latkes are potato pancakes, which can easily be cooked with potatoes, onion, eggs, and plenty of oil! Latkes are very greasy, yes, but they help Jews remember the significance oil had during this holiday.
From Quiz: A Quiz on Chanukah
Answer: 8
It is eight nights long as the oil miraculously burned for eight nights instead of one night.
From Quiz: Chanukah
Answer: A great miracle happened there.
The letters transliterated in Hebrew stand for "Nes Gadol Hayah Sham." In Israel, the letter "Shin" is changed to a "Pe" on the dreidels and it stands for "A great miracle happened here."
From Quiz: Eight Crazy Nights
Answer: The player takes one-half a piece more than half the total
The letter Hey stands for the Yiddish word 'halb', meaning 'half'. If there are an even number of pieces in the pot, this is straightforward. If the total is odd, the simple common-sense approach of taking just a bit more than half is used. If there are 25 pieces in the pot, the player takes 13 and leaves 12. This is one-half a piece more than half the original total, since half of 25 is 12 1/2.
From Quiz: I Have a Little Dreidel
Answer: Matzah
Also known as ponchkes, sufganiyot are doughnuts filled with either jelly, custard or chocolate. They can also be powdered with sugar to make the taste even sweeter. Even though the traditional and least expensive filling is strawberry jelly, other fillings, such as chocolate cream and vanilla cream, have been created.
From Quiz: A Quiz on Chanukah
Answer: 25th Kislev
It begins on the 25th day of the month of Kislev, usually in mid-December according to the common calendar.
From Quiz: Chanukah
Answer: Latkes
Latkes are especially common among the Ashkenazi Jewish people (Jewish people of Central and Northern Europe descent). Though traditionally made with potatoes, they can also be made with other ingredients such as zucchini, cheese and onions.
From Quiz: Eight Crazy Nights
Answer: Chocolate
Usually wrapped in golden or silver foil, chocolate gelt in the shape of coins is used by children when playing with the dreidel. The game ends when a player collects all of the chocolate gelt, and then is able to eat it!
From Quiz: All About the Blue and White Holiday: Hanukkah!
Answer: 7
Yup. Modern 'Chanukiahs' or menorahs have eight plus the shamas for the eight-day lighting. But the original menorah had seven.
From Quiz: Chanukah
Answer: jelly doughnuts
Sufganiyot have been around since the 16th century. They are traditionally deep-fried and covered on top with powdered sugar. They are fluffy doughnuts. They are traditionally filled with jelly or jam, but other options can be used as well.
From Quiz: Eight Crazy Nights
Answer: Ask another player for a loan
In such a situation, the player may choose to leave the game, but if they aren't ready to retire they can ask other players to lend them as many pieces as they need to fulfill their obligation. The rules about when repayment must be made, and whether any 'interest' is expected, are developed on a purely local level. There is no bank in the game, and stealing from other players is definitely outside the spirit of the season. Since none of the four possible spins results in the distribution of pieces to other players, the option of waiting for that to happen would essentially be the same as leaving the game. If none of the other players has sufficient resources to provide a loan, or if they all refuse to do so, the player is out of the game.
From Quiz: I Have a Little Dreidel
Answer: Nine
Hanukkah lasts for eight days, since many years ago, a very little amount of oil kept the temple candelabrum burning for eight days. The chanukiah has nine arms, one for each candle and an extra one in the middle for the Shamash, which is the candle used to light the others.
The menorah is a similar candelabrum, but it has seven arms instead of nine.
From Quiz: All About the Blue and White Holiday: Hanukkah!
Answer: left to right
The candles are placed in the menorah from right to left, but they are lit from left to right.
From Quiz: Chanukah
Answer: When one player has acquired all the playing pieces
While players may have been given a fixed period of time in which to play, and bedtime or boredom may cause a game to end prematurely, the official goal of the game is to acquire all the playing pieces. In the spirit of the holiday, players who used real money are encouraged to give their winnings to charity. Chocolate money, however, is there for the eating!
From Quiz: I Have a Little Dreidel
Answer: Dedication
Although the exact meaning of the word is unknown, "hanukkah" usually translates from Hebrew to "dedication" or "induction", as the Maccabees had to re-build the entire Holy Temple after the Greeks destroyed it.
An alternative meaning of the word comes from "Chanu" (rest) and "kah" (25), which is a reference to how the Maccabees rested after defeating the Greek on the 25th of Kislev.
From Quiz: All About the Blue and White Holiday: Hanukkah!
Answer: Haneiros Hallalu
Maoz Tzur is said AFTER the lighting.
From Quiz: Chanukah
