Hanukkah, Jewish Festival of Lights still celebrated

“Put on your yarmulke… Here comes Hanukkah…” sings actor Adam Sandler in the now-infamous “Saturday Night Live” skit. While the song may be silly, it highlights something that can be forgotten during the Christmas craze —  not everyone celebrates the same holidays, and as a result, many are left feeling left out from the things that are commonly seen in pop culture.

In layman’s terms, Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish holiday that commemorates the fight between the mighty army of the Greeks and the small band of Jewish fighters. As the story goes, the Greeks came and tried to force the people of Israel to give in and observe their own culture and beliefs; the small band of Jewish fighters impossibly drove the Greek forces away. As they relit the temple’s menorah, they discovered that only a drop of olive oil had been left uncontaminated by the Greeks. Amazingly, the oil lasted for eight days, and so the holiday Hanukkah is meant to celebrate those eight days of oil. A candle is lit for every night of Hanukkah, and celebrated with gifts, songs and special food, such as latkes (thin potato pancakes).

Perhaps out of guilt, popular culture has made Hanukkah out to be the Jewish equivalent of Christmas, although that is not necessarily true. Gabrielle Stubbs and Elliot Mayer-Yeager, both PC students, saidHanukkah is not an especially important holiday for them, and that it is more of a nostalgic tradition.

According to a Pew Research Center article “How many Jews are there in the United States?” published on article Oct. 2, 2013, there are about 4.2 million adults who identify as Jews by religion.  By getting to know how different cultures celebrate their traditions, communities could benefit from knowing more about other traditions that are celebrated. By being aware of those who practice different traditions, a more tolerant and understanding society is encouraged to flourish.