Customs & Symbols
- bracha ברכה / brachot ברכות
= blessing/s - chanukiah חנוכיה
= the special nine-branched menorah (candelabrum) we use for Chanukah, one light added each of eight nights plus one server-light, or shamash.
By the way, the non-Chanukah seven-branched menorah is an Israeli state symbol. Also, menorah in Hebrew also refers to your everyday "lamp". - choshech חושך
= darkness - demei Chanuka דמי חנוכה
= Chanukah money or "gelt" [Yiddish]. The custom of giving children a bit of money, while also encouraging that a portion be passed on to tzedaka [charity]. - gvina גבינה
= cheese, another food custom on Chanukah (see Yehudit below). Goes well with a little yayin (wine), of course. - kad כד
= jug, pitcher. A typical holiday symbol in Israel, like to hold that shemen / oil. (These show up in the arts & crafts activities in all the schools here around this time.)
Kad shemen כד שמן is a jug of oil. - leviva לביבה / levivot לביבות
= fried potato pancake/s, aka latke/s in Yiddish. Typical holiday fare with Ashkenazi roots, reflecting the miracle of one day's purified oil lasting eight days with the Temple's rededication. - matana מתנה / matanot מתנות
= gift/s - ner נר / nerot נרות
= candle/s - nes נס / nisim נסים
= miracle / miracles.
Nisim is also a common Israeli name for a male. - Nes Gadol Haya Po נס גדול היה פה
= "A great miracle happened here". The first letter of each word, nun-gimel-hey-pey, is found on the Israeli sevivon [spinning top] we play with on Chanukah. - Nes Gadol Haya Sham נס גדול היה שם
= "A great miracle happened there". The first letter of each word, nun-gimel-hey-shin, is found on the sevivon [spinning top] used for Chanukah by those located outside of Israel. - or אור
= light. In modern Hebrew the plural is orot אורות . - po פה
= here - sevivon סביבון
= spinning top. A specially lettered four-sided version is used in playing games of chance on Chanukah. It is also popularly known in many places as a dreidel [Yiddish]. To learn the game plus some more fun suggestions, see also our "Let's Get Busy" section. - sfinj ספינג'
= a Moroccan-Jewish variant of the sufganiya/doughnut. A bunch of these are still called sfinj- with no change in the word at all, except alas for the cost and number of calories when you've consumed the plural version. It is hypothesized that this singular/plural linguistic oddity is due to the fact that you can never eat only one of these anyway. - sham שם
= there - shamash שמש
= "servant", the servant candle we use to light all the other candles in the chanukiah. - shemen שמן
= oil. Olive oil is shemen zayit, a major staple of Israeli cooking and in those salads we love all year… Eating fried food is customary on Chanukah to remember the miracle that such a small amount of oil- a day's worth- lasted eight days. (If only we could get away with such a miraculously small amount in the making of a decent leviva or sufganiya. This is maybe why salad is such a big part of our regular Israeli diet, to compensate for a month of such heavy fried excesses, not to mention the hike in chocolate consumption – those "coins" add up….) - sufganiya סופגניה / sufganiyot סופגניות
= doughnut/s. Typical holiday fare with Sefardi roots, reflecting the miracle of one day's purified oil lasting eight days with the Temple's rededication. - tzedaka צדקה
= charity
People
- Antiochus אנטיוכוס
= Antiochus IV Epiphanes, repressive Greek-Syrian ruler (see more in our "Overview" section). - Chashmonaim חשמונאים
= Hasmoneans, the family name of the priestly family of Modiin, aka the Maccabees, including the father Matityahu מתתיהו and his five sons Yonatan יונתן , Eleazar אלעזר , Yehuda יהודה , Shimon שמעון and Yochanan יוחנן . They headed the revolt against the Syrian Greeks, culminating in a semi-autonomous Judea which their dynasty led until it fell to the Romans and became a province in 63 CE. There is also a modern community in Israel called Chashmonaim, located near the present-day city of Modiin. - Chana חנה
= Hannah and her seven sons, described in II Maccabees 7, who were all killed by Antiochus IV's soldiers for reaffirming their faith in G-d and refusing to worship idols. - Makabi מכבי
= Maccabee, traditionally translated as meaning "hammer" [Aramaic].
This added name applied first to Judah the Hasmonean, purportedly to extoll his fighting ability, and then it extended to the entire family. It's also often posited to be an acronym for the famous battle-cry:
מי כמוך באלים ה'?
Mi Kamocha Baelim Adonai?
Who among the mighty is like You, O G-d? - Matityahu מתתיהו
= Mattathias, priest of Modiin (see Chashmonaim). - Yehuda Hamakabi יהודה המכבי
= "Judah the Maccabee [hammer]", one of Matityahu's five sons and the best known as leader of the revolt after the death of his father. He continued to lead until his death, five years after the Temple was rededicated. - Yehudit יהודית
= Judith. Pre-dating feminists by eons, the Book of Judith (Apocrypha) is often cited as a prime example of the prominent role women played in the revolt against the Syrian-Greeks.
She purportedly saved her town, Betulia, by killing the general Holofernes after plying him with salty cheese and a lot of wine to quench that thirst… This is also considered to be the source for the custom of eating cheese on Chanukah.
When & Where?
- Beit Hamikdash בית המקדש
= The Temple - chag ha-urim חג האורים
= "Festival of Lights" - Chanuka חנוכה
= "dedication", as in the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, which occurred on the 25th of Kislev (the date Chanukah begins) in 165 BCE. It had been desecrated by Antiochus IV three years earlier. - Kislev כסלו
= the ninth month of the Jewish calendar. - Modiin מודיעין
= home of the Maccabees and starting point of the uprising against Antiochus IV. This is also the start-off place for a modern Israeli ceremony at the beginning of Chanukah, where a torch is lit and then carried by runners to Jerusalem. Modiin, by the way, has a subsection called Maccabim. - Yerushalaim ירושלים
= Jerusalem
Seasonal (in Israel)
- ananim עננים
= clouds - botz בוץ
= mud. A prominent part of the rainy season in Israel. - choref חורף
= winter - geshem גשם
= rain. choref/winter is the rainy season in Israel (and we really need every drop). We think this is terribly cold and dismal because we don't know any better (and also because most homes are built more for summer- to keep heat out, not to conserve it). - kar li קר לי
= I'm cold. The opposite is cham li חם לי , I'm hot (for our Southern Hemisphere friends). - magafayim מגפיים
= boots - marak מרק
= soup. Winter staple except when too busy eating levivot and sufganiyot. - mitria מטריה
= umbrella - shlulit שלולית
= puddle, which you jump in if you are a kid (or even if you're not). - sheleg שלג
= snow. Israel doesn't have this except for a few places with a much higher altitude, like Yerushalaim. A snowman is an ish sheleg איש שלג. Sheleg in Yerushalaim is great for traffic jams within, away and maybe a bit towards the city too. Jams within town start with only a couple centimeters' fall, plus commuters trying to leave before it's too hard to get out, plus excited families with kids jumping in the car and heading up towards the city to get high up enough if it looks like a decent enough snowfall to see snow without it melting right away and to make a few snowballs. (To grasp this better: We've had excited neighbors bring some snowballs back in a picnic container). - shemesh שמש
= sun *For winter clothing vocabulary, see "Take Back the Season With Ivrit" in our "Let's Get Busy" section.
Prayer & Song
- Al HaNissim על הנסים
= "For the Miracles", a Chanukah blessing we add to the Amidah and to Birkat Hamazon (Grace After Meals). - Hallel הלל
= praise. The Hallel is made up of Psalms 113-118 and occasionally also Psalm 136. We recite it at special times, including Sukkot and Chanukah. - HaNerot Halalu הנרות הללו
= "these lights". We say this prayer each night after lighting the chanukiah. The Rabbis instruct us within this prayer that "these candles are sacred. We don’t have permission to use them as a light source, but are only to look upon them." - Maoz Tzur מעוז צור
= "Rock of Ages" or "Fortress Rock". Hymn for Chanukah, composed in 13th century Germany, customarily sung after candle-lighting each night. - Shehecheyanu שהחיינו
= meaning "he who has kept us alive", this prayer is recited at the start of all festivals. (See more in "Worthwhile Information & Tidbits", under "Candle-Lighting"). - We've done some hunting to save you time- so look over our "Way Too Cool Links" section for more Chanukah songs.
*Also check out our terrific Hebrew Alphabet aid: http://www.learnhebrewpod.com/reading-hebrew/alphabet
*Plus some more useful vocabulary and games over at our Free Collection:
http://www.learnhebrewpod.com/free-hebrew-lessons