[Teachldsseminary] HANUKKAH Dec. 5-12

[Linda Harper]

Does anyone have a plan or ideas or activity for Hanukkah starting this
Wednesday?   I know it's not one of the original holidays found in the OT,
but my  students usually ask about what it is so I give a short explanation
each year.

 

I wondered if anyone has adapted the Dradel game to be a SM game?

 

Here's information I have but haven't figured out how to use the game as a
SM game.

 

Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days and nights, starting on the 25th of
Kislev on the Hebrew calendar (which is November-December on the Gregorian
calendar). In Hebrew, the word "Hanukkah" means "dedication." The holiday
commemorates the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem after the
Jews' 165 B.C. victory over the Hellenist Syrians. Antiochus, the Greek King
of Syria, outlawed Jewish rituals and ordered the Jews to worship Greek
gods.

In 168 B.C. the Jews' holy Temple was seized and dedicated to the worship of
Zeus.

Some Jews were afraid of the Greek soldiers and obeyed them, but most were
angry and decided to fight back.

The fighting began in Modiin, a village not far from Jerusalem. A Greek
officer and soldiers assembled the villagers, asking them to bow to an idol
and eat the flesh of a pig, activities forbidden to Jews. The officer asked
Mattathias, a Jewish High Priest, to take part in the ceremony. He refused,
and another villager stepped forward and offered to do it instead.
Mattathias became outraged, took out his sword and killed the man, then
killed the officer. His five sons and the other villagers then attacked and
killed the soldiers. Mattathias' family went into hiding in the nearby
mountains, where many other Jews who wanted to fight the Greeks joined them.
They attacked the Greek soldiers whenever possible.

Judah Maccabee and his soldiers went to the holy Temple, and were saddened
that many things were missing or broken, including the golden menorah. They
cleaned and repaired the Temple, and when they were finished, they decided
to have a big dedication ceremony. For the celebration, the Maccabees wanted
to light the menorah. They looked everywhere for oil, and found a small
flask that contained only enough oil to light the menorah for one day.
Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days. This gave them enough time to
obtain new oil to keep the menorah lit. Today Jews celebrate Hanukkah for
eight days by lighting candles in a menorah every night, thus commemorating
the eight-day miracle.

 

The modern home celebration of Chanukah centers around the lights of the
Chanukah, a special menorah for Chanukah; unique foods, latkes and jelly
doughnuts; and special songs and games, including the dreidel game.

 

DRADEL GAME

(a four sided top that you spin and how it lands means different things: 

Distribute the tokens evenly among all of the players. The tokens can be any
little thing: pennies, nuts, raisins, matchsticks, etc. 

Direct each player to place one token in the middle of the circle to create
"the pot." 

Take turns spinning the dreidel. (In some variations of the game, it always
starts with the youngest player.) The dreidel will land in such a way that
one and only one letter shows on top. According to the letter appearing, the
player should perform the following action:

 Nun in the game of dreidel means you get nothing.

 Shin in the game of dreidel means you put one into the pot. 

 Gimel in the game of dreidel means you get everything from the pot.

 Heh in the game of dreidel means you get half of everything from the pot.

 

 

TIPS:

If the pot empties, or has only one token left, each player should put
another token in the pot. 

If a player runs out of tokens, he either leaves the game or takes a loan of
tokens from another player. 

A fun variation is to use chocolate instead of coins, so you can eat your
winnings when the game ends. 

In Israel, the letter shin is usually replaced with the letter peh for the
word "poh" to create the phrase "a great miracle happened here." 

In another version of the game, you may match the pot when Shin appears, and
put one in when Nun appears. 

In Yiddish, the dreidel is also called "fargle" and "varfl." In Israel, the
Hebrew term "sevivon" (from the root meaning "turn around or spin") is used.