Hanukkah for Families

Eight days of fun.

By Sarah Gershman for MyJewishLearning.com

Hanukkah's proximity to Christmas can complicate the holiday.

For those who try to make Hanukkah more like Christmas, it inevitably seems to fall short. Yet while Hanukkah was traditionally not one of the most central holidays of the Jewish calendar, it can, nonetheless offer many opportunities for fun and joyous celebration. Here are some suggestions for how you can make this Hanukkah memorable, while still staying true to the essential meaning of the holiday.

Bringing Light out of Darkness

There are many ways to make this year’s Hanukkah a real "Festival of Light." As Rabbi Arthur Waskow writes in his book, Seasons of Joy, “Hanukkah is the moment when light is born from darkness, hope from despair.” Historically, this was reflected in the unlikely victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks, in the oil that brought light for eight days instead of one, and in the very act of lighting candles during the darkest time of the year.

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