Charlie has been asking about different Holidays and traditions. I didn’t know enough about Holiday’s other than the Holidays we celebrate. To answer Charlies questions I’ve decided we will search and learn about Holidays and Traditions like Hanukkah. Then we can share these new traditions with our friends and family.
To begin I’ve picked out Gifts you can use on Hanukkah. Charlie and I will be reading throughout December. If you know of other books featuring Hanukkah leave me a comment and I will look the books up.
If you know things I should be teaching Charlie about Hanukkah or where we can go for resources leave me a comment. Charlie and I will check the resources out as possible.
Hanukkah is celebrated on the 25th day of the month of Kislev, the Jewish calendar, which can be in early November or late December. During the Hanukkah holiday, families eat latkes (potato pancakes), sufganiyot (round jelly doughnuts), and other foods to celebrate the miracle of the Festival of Lights.
The miracle is about a night’s supply of lamp oil that provided light for eight nights, which took place during the rededication of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem.
This Jewish holiday celebrates many traditions like playing the Drediel game and lighting the menorah (the lamp more traditionally called the “Hanukkiah”) with the recollection of stories of the Maccabees and nights long ago.
Traditions
Though the traditional holiday doesn’t include opening presents, the holiday’s proximity to Christmas has created a new tradition of buying presents for children. Another newer tradition in the United States is the baking of butter cookies or pretzels in the shape of Hanukkah symbols while relating the stories. Children delight in helping to make cookies and learning about traditions as they create and eat as well.
Traditional Hanukkah holiday foods are not for the faint of heart since most are fried and/or loaded with cheeses. These traditional special treats, along with unconventional variations of Hanukkah recipes, are sure to please all, even if you’re not Jewish.
Hanukkah Jelly Doughnuts (Sufganiyot)
- Total:80 mins
- Prep:60 mins
- Cook:20 mins
- Rising Time:3 hrs
- Yield:12 to 14 servings
- Sufganiyot are deep-fried jelly doughnuts that are traditionally eaten during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. The oil used to fry the doughnuts are reminiscent of the oil that miraculously burned— according to the Hanukkah story—in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem.
Ingredients
- 1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
- 3 cups, plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar (divided)
- 1 1/4 cups water (room temperature)
- 1/4 cup margarine (melted)
- Dash of kosher salt
- 2 large egg yolks
- Strawberry jelly or jam
- Canola oil (for frying)
- Garnish: powdered sugar
- Gather the ingredients.
- In a small bowl, combine the yeast, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, and water. Mix well, cover, and allow to rest until the mixture becomes foamy.
- In another large bowl, mix the remaining 3 cups of flour with the melted margarine, salt, remaining sugar, and the egg yolks.
- Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture. Slowly pour in the water while stirring.
- When the batter is smooth, cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and set aside in a warm spot to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
- After the batter has risen, punch it down and transfer it to a lightly floured surface.
- Roll out the dough to a 3/4-inch thickness. Use a round cookie cutter or a glass with a 2 1/2- to 3-inch opening to cut circles out of the dough.
- Place a drop of jelly or jam in the middle of each circle.
- Cover with another circle of dough. Make sure that 2 circles attach well to form a closed ball with jelly in the middle.
- Cover the doughnuts with a clean, slightly damp tea towel and allow to rise until puffed up, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Line a large plate or platter with several layers of paper towels and set aside.
- Pour 2 inches of oil into a deep, heavy-bottomed pot. Heat over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350 F/180 C.
- Working in batches, carefully slip the doughnuts into the oil, taking care not to crowd the pan. Fry the doughnuts on both sides until puffed and golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
- Carefully remove the doughnuts with a slotted spoon and transfer to the towel-lined plates to drain.
- Cool slightly, sprinkle with powdered sugar.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Gittel’s Journey An Ellis Island Story By Leslea Newman Gittel and her mother were supposed to immigrate to America together, but when her mother is stopped by the health inspector, Gittel must make the journey alone. Her mother writes her cousin’s address in New York on a piece of paper. However, when Gittel arrives at Ellis Island, she discovers the ink has run and the address is illegible! How will she find her family? Both a heart-wrenching and heartwarming story, Gittel’s Journey offers a fresh perspective on the immigration journey to Ellis Island. The book includes an author’s note explaining how Gittel’s story is based on the journey to America taken by Lesléa Newman’s grandmother and family friend.
In this charming board book, a Jewish family celebrates the arrival of a baby!
Blessings in our house abound,
Newest is the wondrous sound,
Of baby whom we hold so dear,
Crying out with joy, “I’m here!”
Whimsical bunnies celebrate Hanukkah in this charming rhyming board book describing all the Hanukkah rituals beloved by Jewish kids.
The olive harvest in Israel is a special time. See how the tiny spring flowers blossom into green fruit, then ripen into shiny black olives. Watch the olives as they’re gathered, sorted, and pressed into oil. Then celebrate Hanukkah with an Israeli family, as they use the oil to light their Hanukkah menorah. Come and enjoy the harvest of light.
It’s Hanukkah, and Hannah Hartman can’t stop Hiccupping!
Her neighbors try to help by sharing their sometimes silly, always fun, remedies: “Drink pickle juice backwards,” says Mr. Brown, while Señora Rivera gives Hannah a wet, red string to place on her forehead. Hannah tries ginger ale, breathing into a paper bag, and even slathering peanut butter on her latkes! Nothing works. How will she be able to perform her solo at the Hebrew school play if her hiccups don’t go away?
More than anything, Judah wants to be a good big brother to his baby sister, Hannah. He even uses his new Maccabee shield to protect her from danger!On the last day of Hanukkah, during a visit to the doctor, Judah refuses to have his shot. Surely, his shield can protect him from germs, too!
Come join Farmer Kobi and his animals for a hilarious Hanukkah dinner. Kobi’s well-mannered goats, donkey, and sheep know just how to play host, and they give Polly, Kobi’s Hanukkah guest, a gracious welcome. But when Polly isn’t sure animals belong in a house, what will happen next? Find out with laugh-out-loud pictures and puns that are sure to entertain all readers. As donkey says: Hee-Haw-Yahoo!
How is a menorah made?
Why does it have nine branches?
What is Hanukkah, anyway?
Meet the people who make different menorahs, and find out how an ancient Jewish tradition is celebrated. What are the different elements that make a menorah? When do we light it? What blessings do we say, and how does it all fit in with the miracle of Hanukkah?
Make and decorate your own menorah, roll candles, and discover what the letters on the dreidel mean. Discover all this and more, with over 100 explanatory photos that reveal a fascinating world behind the scenes.
If your celebrating Hanukkah I would like to introduce you to Narrow Bridge Candles sent me a Box of Hanukkah Candles which contains 45 small tapers – enough for all 8 nights!
Each candles burns 65-75 minutes
100% beeswax, no dyes or perfumes
Want to receive a box of Hanukkah Candles every year? Sign up for our Annual Hanukkah Subscription and you will receive a box of candles along with gelt in time for Hanukkah every year!
“The Amazing Adventures of Super Dreidel” involves two protagonists, Rachel and her brother Randy, who to their surprise, built a Super Dreidel for Hanukkah that on its test flight would spin them thousands of years back in time.
The Super Dreidel helps them fight along with the Maccabees to win a war against the Greeks. When Super Dreidel crashes, the siblings need to figure out how to get home to Mom, Dad, and their dog, Spot.
The book’s charming light verse may be read by the impatient reader in one evening or, like Hanukkah candles, be enjoyed slowly, read each night in eight individually glowing portions — by young readers themselves or to younger children by parents and teachers.
Published just in time for Hanukkah, the books have two blank pages bound into them near the end. A Greek fighting elephant is about to flatten them like potato pancakes after Super Dreidel, powered by their mother’s blender, crashes. That’s where kids (if necessary with help from parents or teachers) can write their own endings.
After they’ve successfully pushed their Imagination Buttons, the author invites readers to send their original endings to sirhowardeisenberg@gmail.com.
The three best will win copies of his next Write Your Own Ending book — The Dinosaur in the Elevator — due out in March, 2020. His introduction to this first book ends with, “Hmm, you might want to write an ending for that book, too.”
Howard Eisenberg has been a writer for 75 years (since WWII) and has written the Guess Who Zoo series and several other children’s books, a half-dozen books for adults, more than 100 magazine articles, and a musical, much of it with his late wife, Arlene, who co-wrote the original What to Expect books with their daughter, Heidi Murkoff. Asked why he switched to writing children’s books, the 93-year-old author replies, “It keeps me young.”
93 year old Howard Eisenberg, has released “The Amazing Adventures of Super Dreidel,” the first in a new and unique series of Write Your Own Ending books from Mascot Books.
Within the pages, Howard Eisenberg invites young readers to become writers and his co-authors, releasing a burst of creativity and imagination within each child.
