1. Why is Chanukah early this year?
This year Chanukah falls as usual on the 25th day of Kislev in the year 5770 (according to the Jewish calendar).
But seriously folks…Jewish people and their friends will begin their celebration at sundown on Friday, December 11. (Sundown, by the way, is at a depressing 4:01 pm that day.) Reason: the earth revolves around the sun in about 365¼ days. The civil calendar is cool with that and arbitrarily assigns the number of days (28, 30 or 31) to each month.
The Jewish calendar also has a 365 1/4 day year. However, the months are based on the cycle of the moon revolving around the 
earth which takes 29 1/2 days. Do the math and you come up with 12.4 lunar months per year. To keep the months falling at the right time of year, the Jewish calendar is 12 months long with an extra month thrown in occasionally.
For a more detailed explanation of the Jewish calendar, click here.
Bottom line. Jewish holidays float around the civil calendar in about a three week window. Rosh HaShana/Yom Kippur in the late summer/fall, Passover in the Spring, Chanukah in the winter.
2. What is the true story of Chanukah?
It all goes back to Alexander the Great. He conquers Judea in 334 BCE. (Jews prefer to use Before the Common Era as opposed to BC [before Christ] because in general Jews don’t refer to Jesus as Christ, which means Messiah). Alexander brings Greek culture to the region, but allows the Jews to maintain Temple, their sacrifices, and their High Priest who governed the country. Some Jews, particularly in Jerusalem, begin to dig the Hellenistic culture and assimilate.
Fast forward to Antiochus IV, in 165 BCE. For political reasons or revenge, he began to oppress the Jews severely, placing a Hellenistic priest in the Temple, massacring Jews, prohibiting the practice of the Jewish religion, and desecrating the Temple by requiring the sacrifice of pigs (a non-kosher animal) on the altar.
The authorities ordered Mattathias, a priest of the Hasmonean clan, to perform the non-kosher sacrifice of the pig. He refused and killed the Jewish guy who told him to do it AND a Greek officer. Then Mattathias and his five sons including Judah (the Hammer) Maccabee, headed for the hills and mounted an insurgency against the Greeks which last three years. The Maccabees victoriously entered Jerusalem, cleaned up the defiled temple, and declared a celebration.
The dedication of the Temple took place on the 25th of Kislev and, like Sukkot, lasted for eight days. The Hebrew word for dedication is Chanukah.
Nambe Menorah by Marilyn Davidson. Available at Hamakor
3.What about the miracle of the oil lasting 8 days?
That bit of news came out about 700 years after the event in the Babylonian Talmud which was written down in 500 CE. The Maccabees found only eight day’s worth of oil that was santified by the High Priest but, well, miraculously the oil lasted for eight days. Symbolically, the same number of days as the festival.
The only religious observance related to the Chanukah is the lighting of candles. The candles are arranged candelabrum called a Chanukia (often called a menorah). The Chanukiah holds nine candles: one for each night, plus a shamash (servant) candle that lights the candles.
Want more details? Click here.
4. What’s up with the dreidel?
Religious correct: During times Hellenistic repression, Jews were forbidden to study Torah and other holy books. So, if a Greek or Syrian came by, the Jews would hide their holy books and play with the spinning tops.
Enameled dreidel, available at Menshenables
More likely: There wasn’t much to do in 1500 in Europe so gambling on spinning tops was a big hit. The Yiddish word dreidel is derived from the German word drehen, which means “to spin.”
Here’s one way to play. Everybody ante up. You can choose your own stakes. The foil wrapped chocolate coins are popular. The dreidel has 4 sides, each marked with a Hebrew letter. נ (Nun), ג (Gimel), ה (Hei), ש (Shin). You spin.
Nun: spin again
Gimmel: you get the whole pot
Heh: you get half the pot
Shin: you put in a coin.
Click here for a more symbolic look at the dreidel.
5. What’s the deal with Latkes? What are latkes? What kind of a name is latkes? It sounds like the cab driver from Taxi.
Latkes means potato cake in Yiddish. No one really knows why Ashenazic (of European ancestry) Jews eat potato pancakes on Chanukah. The rationale is that the potatoes fried in oil commemorate the “miracle” of the oil lasting either days. My guess is that it potatoes were relatively plentiful and when fried in oil they are filling and taste really good.
Latka portrayed by Andy Kaufman
Israelis favor jelly doughnuts for Chanukah. Some say it’s because they’re fried in oil. Others says the sweetness of the jelly celebrates the story of the festival.
Naturally, it’s more complicated. Check it out if you’d like.
And the cab driver, played by Andy Kaufman, was Latka.
6. Is Chanukah the Jewish Christmas?
No: It is a minor Jewish holiday and the Book of Maccabees 1 and 2 are not even in the Jewish Bible. They are canonized in the Christian and Eastern Orthodox Bibles. While Christmas may be the most important family holiday, for many Jews it is a day to go to the movies and eat Chinese food. For other Jews, it is another day to observe traditional prayer services, depending on the day of the week.
Yes: C’mon. Seriously. At least, the gift giving part. There are probably many traditionally observant Jews who might give their children those chocolate coins or an orange for Chanukah. But everyone I know treats the gift giving for children just like Christmas except for the different day. (See question 1). And now that are kids are grown, Peggy and I buy each other eight small gifts to keep us interested in lighting the candles. Right, we bribe ourselves to observe!
7. Where do I shop for Chanukah stuff?
Here on the North Shore you can get the basics…candles, dreidels, latke mix, blue paper plates at nearly any grocery store. But if you want some quality Chanukah menorahs, dreidels, and gifts, here are our picks:
Menshenables Judaica, located at 225 N. McHenry Road (Rte. 83), in Buffalo Grove, is filled with all your Chanukah needs.
They have great gifts for everyone on your list, lots of collectible dreidels, and beautiful menorahs in every price range. Their eclectic inventory even has gift ideas for your friends who aren’t Jewish.
We are very impressed by their dreidel collection. Pewter, fused glass, ceramic, aluminum, olive wood, and papier mache.
They have a full line of talisim, Bar/Bat Mitzvah gifts, wedding gifts and lots of books filled with invitations.
Sundays 9 to 2, Tuesday 12 to 8, Wednesday 11 to 7, Thursday 11 to 6, and Friday 11 to 2.
www.Menshenables.com.
Hamakor Gallery, 4150 Dempster St, Skokie. Open everyday but Saturday. (847) 677-4150
We like the large selection and the variety. I like their Jewish books and CDs which you don’t often find at brick and mortars these days.
8. What’s the correct spelling anyway
in Hebrew.
As for English…here is what Google search came up with.
Hanukkah 5,230,000
Chanukah 1,450,000
Hannukah 626,000
Hanukah 363,000
Hanuka 196,000
Chanuka 180,000
Hanukka 70,700
Hannuka 58,800
Khanuke 3,410
The Associated Press also prefers Hanukkah.