hanakuh sweaters come on baby light my menorah medium

Read: Eight Jewish fried foods from around the world. Sephardic Jews enjoy a plethora of other fried treats like bimuelos and sfenj. The two most popular in the Ashkenazi community are latkes - a fried potato pancake - and jelly donuts (in Hebrew: sufganiyot).

In Israel, where the Hanukkah miracle took place (check out this map of the Hanukkah battles) the final letter on the dreidel is pey instead of shin for nes gadol haya po (“a great miracle happened here.”)īecause of the miracle of the oil, it is traditional for Jews to eat fried foods on Hanukkah. This stands for the Hebrew phrase nes gadol haya sham, which means “a great miracle happened there” - alluding, of course, to the miracle of Hanukkah.

Around the world, most dreidels have the following four letters: nun, gimmel, hey, shin. The letters on the dreidel are also symbolic. When soldiers were approaching, they would quickly hide their books (or, back then, scrolls) and take out the tops and pretend to be involved in a game. The usual story told about the dreidel is that when Jewish learning was forbidden, the Jews would study Torah in secret. The dreidel is a four-sided top with a different Hebrew letter on each side. The central flame is called the shamash candle. Most hanukkiahs mimic this design with a central branch flanked by four branches on each side, the eight side branches symbolizing the eight days that the oil miraculously burned as well as the eight days of celebration. The Temple menorah had seven branches, a central branch flanked by three on each side. The Hanukkah menorah, or hanukkiah, is designed to evoke the menorah that stood in the Temple 2,000 years ago. These are the primary symbols of the holiday: The holiday is celebrated with feasting, special Hanukkah songs and lighting the Hanukkah menorah (called a hanukkiah). Hanukkah is a winter holiday that celebrates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greeks and the rededication of the Temple, as well as the miracle that a little cruse of oil, designed to burn for only one day, kept the Temple menorah alight for eight whole days until more sanctified oil could be produced. It’s almost like… there’s a non-Jewish person making all of these sweaters? Hmmm…īut, after wading through all the bad options, I’ve managed to pull together the creme de la creme of Hanukkah sweaters - or at least, a few fun, topical ones that you and your family might get a kick out of.My Jewish Learning is a not-for-profit and relies on your help Donate From using non-Hanukkah-related Jewish puns like “ meowzel tov” to some slightly antisemitic stereotypes (“ gelt digger?!”), these terrible sweaters are just super fetishizing and inappropriate. Let’s be frank for a second, a lot of Hanukkah sweaters? They’re bad. Unfortunately, my favorite Hanukkah sweater company, Gelt Fiend, stopped making their gorgeous knit sweaters (seriously, they were inspiring works of art - one sweater even had actually gold gelt on it!). Especially during quarantine, I’ve found comfort in my cozy, old Hanukkah sweaters - which nobody can judge me for wearing months in advance, because no one can see me anyway. In fact, I wear some of my more fashionable Hanukkah sweaters all year round.

I grew up in Israel, so they just don’t have the tacky Christmas party connotation for me. To me, the most exciting thing about Hanukkah - which is coming up on November 28 - is getting to wear my Hanukkah sweaters every day.

Hanakuh sweaters come on baby light my menorah medium