Mythbusters: Hanukkah

Photo from KOMO News

Hanukkah. It’s one of the many holidays that happen in December (usually) and people think they know a lot about it. Let’s see how much you actually know with some common myths and misconceptions about Hanukkah, explained. 

Myth #1: Hanukkah is the most important Jewish holiday. 

BUSTED - Hanukkah is actually the least important Jewish holiday and isn’t even mentioned in the Torah, Judaism’s guiding text.

Myth #2: There is only one spelling of Hanukkah. 

BUSTED - Hanukkah is transliterated from the Hebrew word חנוכה and can be written in many ways. (Chanukah is the most common besides Hanukkah.)

Myth #3: Hanukkah is just a Jewish version of Christmas. 

BUSTED - Hanukkah is not just Christmas for Jews. Getting presents on Hanukkah is a fairly recent addition to the holiday and is not the reason it is celebrated. The tradition emerged in the last century as a way for parents to give their children presents, not related to the 

story of Hanukkah at all.

Myth #4: Hanukkah is always on the same date. 

BUSTED - Hanukkah is an eight day holiday and does not fall on the same dates every year. The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar as opposed to our solar calendar, meaning that Jewish holidays happen at different times every year. This year, Hanukkah begins on the evening of December 25, but last year it started on December 7!

Myth #5: Hanukkah candles are lit at night. 

TRUE - Most Jewish holidays begin and end at sundown. Candles are lit for Hanukkah after sundown each of the eight nights. Fun fact - Hanukkah candles are never blown out, it is required that you let them burn all the way down instead.

Myth #6: Fried foods are an important part of celebrating Hanukkah. 

TRUE - Hanukkah celebrates miracles, specifically the miracle of light. In the story, an amount of oil burned for 8 days, much longer than expected. Because of this, many Jews eat fried foods on Hanukkah, most commonly sufganiyot (jelly donuts) and latkes (fried potato pancakes).

Myth #7: Dreidel is just a game and has no other significance.

BUSTED - The act of playing dreidel doesn’t have much significance and the origins are debated. However, the letters on the dreidel are significant to the story of Hanukkah. In the diaspora (everywhere except Israel), the letters on the dreidel are nun, gimel, hey, and shin. This is an acronym for “nes gadol haya sham” which means “a great miracle happened there.” In Israel, the shin is replaced with a pay, making “po” which means “here.”

Myth #8: You only need 36 candles (1 for the first night, etc.) for the menorah. 

BUSTED - You actually need 45 candles! Counterintuitively, 2 candles are lit on the first night of Hanukkah - the shamash and the candle for the first night. Each night, one candle is added in addition to the shamash. The shamash lights all the other candles and is usually set higher on the hanukkiah than the other candles. Also, you don’t use a menorah (7 candles) for Hanukkah! Instead, a hanukkiah (9 candles) is used.