Hanukkah begins on Dec. 18 this year and continues for eight days and nights until Dec. 26.
Dan Aronson, rabbi for Congregation AhavasAchim in Keene said Hanukkah will begin with the lighting of a nine-branched candelabra or “hanukkiah” commonly called a menorah.
The name “Hanukkah” derives from a Hebrew verb meaning “to dedicate” and dates back to the second century BCE when the city of Jerusalem was recovered from Seleucid Empire – a Greek state –and the temple was rededicated following the Maccabean revolt.
“Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas,” Aronson said, explaining that there will be a lot happening during the Hanukkah period in Keene, including Jewish traditions old and new. One of those new traditions includes “Hanukkah Together,” which was started during the COVID lockdown to keep people together.
“This involves a different host family lighting the hanukkiah most nights,” Aronson said. “We light candles as a community, and one person or family leads them in blessings and might share a story about the hanukkiah or a memorable Hanukkah experience they’ve had.”
Another tradition is the Great Latke Blowout Dec. 23. Aronson said six deep fryers will be used to make latkes and the community will come together at 6 p.m. to eat. This will be followed by music, dancing and an abbreviated Shabbat service. Professor Elaine Ginsberg will lead the music and dancing.
Celebrating at home
For Marc Tieger, co-founder and president of Tieger Realty in Jaffrey, Hanukkah is celebrated mostly at home. He started the business with his late wife Judy in 1972.
“We have Hanukkah at home,” Tieger said. “We light the menorah candles each night using the candle in the middle, which is called the shammash or ‘attendant’ candle, for each night.”
Tieger, 76, who has served as Jaffrey’s town moderator for 32 years, is originally from Elizabeth, N.J., and was raised in the conservative tradition of Judaism. Today, he attends Congregation AgudatAchim in Leominster, Mass., a conservative synagogue, but in the early 1970s he attended a synagogue in Keene that he called a “great learning experience.”
One of the things Tieger said he loves to do at home during Hanukkah is to cook.
“My wife makes latkes, we light candles and if I’m good my wife gives me a gift,” Tieger said.
All faiths welcome at event
One new ritual that will take place this year in Keene is a public lighting of a six-foot-tall electric hanukkiah Dec. 21 at 5 p.m. The lighting of each of the four candles will be done by different people, including Mayor George Hansel, state Sen. Jay Kahn, Keene State Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Director Kate DeConinck, representatives from the Monadnock Interfaith Project and other faith leaders.
“People of all faiths are welcome to come and join us on the square to experience Hanukkah,” Aronson said. “Hot chocolate and jelly doughnuts, which are a traditional Hanukkah food, will be served.”
Jelly doughnuts are considered a traditional food, he said, because they are cooked in 0il, which symbolizes the flask of pure oil the Maccabees found after the liberation of the temple in Jerusalem that Syrian Greeks had destroyed during the Maccabean revolt.
According to the Babylonian Talmud, there was only enough oil to last for one night, but as the story is told it lasted for eight nights, which is how long it takes to refine olive oil.
“They were able to keep the menorah lit for eight days and nights,” Aronson said.
On Dec. 25, the seventh day of Hanukkah, Congregation AhavasAchim will partake in what Aronson called an “age-old” Jewish tradition at the synagogue – eating Chinese food and watching movies.
A full listing of events taking place at AhavasAchim during the Hanukkah celebration starting Dec. 18 can be found by visiting keenesynagogue.org and searching for “Upcoming Events.” The synagogue can also be reached at 603-352-6747.