A Quiz on Chanukah

Answer: Lights

Even though it is not as important as other holidays such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Chanukah is often considered an important Jewish holiday because Kislev usually falls in December, which is also the month of Christmas, therefore making December a celebration month for both Jews and Christians.

Answer: Antiochus IV

Antiochus IV Epiphanes was a king of the Seleucid Empire. Many years before him, King Alexander the Great had conquered places like Syria, Egypt and what is now known as Palestine, where Jewish populations were numerous. Alexander allowed them to continue practicing their own religions, but under the rule of Antiochus IV, Jews suffered oppression.

The Jewish temple had a Hellenistic priest in order to discredit the temple as Jewish.

Answer: Judah Maccabee

Judah, son of Mattathias, led the revolt with his father and succeeded. They also fought with Judah's brothers: Eleazar, Simon, John and Johnathan, and with the Chasidim, a religious group which has nothing to do with the modern Chasidim, but is a forerunner of the Pharisees, a movement that encompasses all Jewish movements in history.

The king had destroyed the Jewish temple, so after Mattathias and Judah were victorious, the temple was rededicated.

Answer: 8 days

Chanukah celebrates the miracle of oil, as a little amount of it that was supposed to only be enough for one night lasted eight days! This is why Chanukah lasts eight days, and the menorah has a place for each of the eight candles, which substituted oil over time.

Chanukah is a celebration of a miracle, not of the military victory achieved by the Jews.

Answer: True

Yes, gambling is a sin. However, the amounts one bets are really small; sometimes it's not even real money! As a matter of fact, it is common to gamble with chocolate coins when playing this game.

The dreidel features four Hebrew letters: nun, gimel, hay, and shin, which all together represent the sentence "a great miracle happened there", or if in Israel, "a great miracle happened here", using a pey instead of the shin. It is very simple to play with a dreidel. Depending on which letter you draw, you either take a chocolate, put one in the pot, or if you're lucky enough, take all the chocolate home!

Answer: Potatoes

Known as levivot, latkes are potato pancakes, which can easily be cooked with potatoes, onion, eggs, and plenty of oil! Latkes are very greasy, yes, but they help Jews remember the significance oil had during this holiday.

Answer: Matzah

Also known as ponchkes, sufganiyot are doughnuts filled with either jelly, custard or chocolate. They can also be powdered with sugar to make the taste even sweeter. Even though the traditional and least expensive filling is strawberry jelly, other fillings, such as chocolate cream and vanilla cream, have been created.

Answer: Gelt

It is very unusual to see traditional Jews celebrating Chanukah gift stuff other than small amounts of money, known as gelt. The original purpose of gelt was to get children to understand charity.

Answer: Shamash

Although we could say the Chanukiah and the Menorah are the same thing because their purpose is very similar, they have their differences. For instance, a menorah, used in ancient temples and lit daily, was originally made of gold, according to the Torah. In addition, it has seven branches, and is part of the coat of arms of the state of Israel.

The Chanukiah has nine branches, one for each night plus one in the center which is where the Shamash goes. The Shamash is a special candle which is the first to be lit, and then used to light all other candles.

Answer: True

That's something I didn't know before writing this quiz! As it turns out, the festivals of Chrismukkah and Thanksgivukkah do exist, and are portmanteau words made up of Chanukah and Christmas/Thanksgiving.

Chrismukkah is usually celebrated in interfaith households, where one of the parents is a Christian and the other a Jew. Thanksgivukkah comes from the fact that Chanukah fell on or near Thanksgiving Day on multiple times and likely will happen again, leading to the celebration of both by Jewish American families.