Happy Hanukkah!

So, even though God didn't explicitly ordain this particular holiday in the Bible (like Passover, for instance), Jesus Himself made it clear that it was worth celebrating! Instead of going into all the details about what it is and why our family celebrates it, I thought it would be helpful to link to my wonderful friend Jenn's blog, because she does such a brilliant job of explaining it all!

So here you have it!

http://www.girlseekstruth.com/2008/12/happy-h-word.html

and an update with some additional, AWESOME, God-totally-loves-and-uses-WOMEN-in-powerful-ways information:

http://www.girlseekstruth.com/2010/12/apparently-its-not-just-about-maccabees.html

I did want to also add something about the dreidel game (not a law, but a custom associated with Hanukkah)! Some rabbis maintain that back when the Jews were being persecuted by the Greeks, and the study of the Torah had been outlawed, children (and adults) would gather to secretly study God's Word, even in the streets where there was a risk of a Greek official walking by. When one of them did, they would quickly pretend to be playing dreidels as a cover. Additionally, the Hebrew letters on the 4 sides of the dreidel (and the words they represent) are another teaching device. The four letters are Nun, Gimel, Hey, and Shin, which spell out the acronym Nes Gadol Haya Sham ("A Miracle Happened There" - the miracle, of course, being the miracle of Hanukkah). Any number of people can play dreidel, and it's a great game for young children!

To play,
1. Each player begins the game with an equal number of game pieces (about 10-15) such as pennies, nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, matchsticks, etc. "Gelt" (chocolate coins) work well too!
3. At the beginning of each round, every participant puts one game piece into the center "pot." In addition, every time the pot is empty or has only one game piece left, every player should put one in the pot.
4. Every time it's your turn, spin the dreidel once. Depending on the outcome, you give or get game pieces from the pot:
   a) Nun means "nisht" or "nothing" (Yiddish). The player does nothing.
   b) Gimmel  means "gantz" or "everything" (Yiddish).  The player gets everything in the pot.
   c) Hey means "halb" or "half" (Yiddish). The player gets half of the pot. (If there is an odd number of pieces in the pot, the player takes half of the total plus one).
   d) Shin means "shtel" or "put in" (Yiddish). The player adds a game piece to the pot.
5. If you find that you have no game pieces left, you are either "out" or may ask a fellow player for a "loan."
6. When one person has won everything, that round of the game is over!

Start lighting your menorahs tomorrow night, everyone! Check out this totally blinged-out one I found! :)