How to Celebrate Hanukkah

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Watch more Happy Hanukkah videos: http://www.howcast.com/videos/405130-... • Hanukkah commemorates the battle to rededicate the Temple of Jerusalem and the miracle in which, according to tradition, a tiny bit of oil burned for eight days. Here's how to celebrate this Jewish holiday. • Step 1: Get a menorah • Find a menorah, a candelabra with nine candleholders, one of which is set apart for the shamash, a candle used to light the others. Place it in a street-facing window to fulfill the commandment of publicizing the miracle. • Step 2: Light the candles • On the first night, place one candle in the farthest right holder and light it with the shamash. On the next night, add a second candle to the left of the first one, lighting the newest one first. Continue for the next six nights for a total of eight. • Tip • On Friday nights, light the Hanukkah candles before the Shabbat candles. On Saturdays, light them after havdalah, the ceremony that ends Shabbat. • Step 3: Recite blessings • As you light the candles, recite the two Hanukkah blessings. Afterward, sing Hanerot Halalu, which praises the defense of the Temple. • Tip • On the first night, add a third blessing to commemorate having lived to celebrate the holiday again. • Step 4: Play dreidel • Spin a dreidel, one of the holiday's most recognized symbols; the letters on its side are the initials of a phrase that commemorates the Hanukkah miracle. • Step 5: Fry it up • Cook and eat foods fried in oil to further reference the ancient miracle. Try making latkes, or potato pancakes, and sufganiyot, Israel's version of the jelly donut. • Step 6: Exchange gifts • Give presents to other people who celebrate Hanukkah. Then sit together, gaze at the candles, and reflect on the festival of lights. • Did You Know? • The tradition of having a menorah on the White House lawn began in 1979.

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