148 Fun Facts About Hanukkah

Hanukkah starts in one Hebrew month and ends in the next: which two months does it span?

It starts on the 25th of Kislev, and because Kislev can have 29 or 30 days, the holiday sometimes ends on the 2nd of Tevet and sometimes the 3rd.

How many branches does a Hanukkah lamp have?

The 9 branches are eight for the lights of the eight nights plus a ninth, set at a different height from the rest, for the helper light.

What food, fried in oil, is a traditional Hanukkah dish made from potatoes?

They are an Ashkenazi staple; in Israel they have largely been displaced by jam-filled doughnuts, partly through the influence of the trade unions.

Which set of psalms is recited in full on each of Hanukkah's eight days?

Hallel, Psalms 113 to 118, is sung in full on all eight days of Hanukkah, a minor festival, yet only in a shortened form on the last six days of Passover.

What type of currency-shaped chocolate is given to children during Hanukkah?

Gelt is Yiddish for money: the foil-wrapped chocolate coins grew out of an older custom of handing children real money at Hanukkah.

According to 1 Maccabees, the Temple altar was rededicated on the anniversary of which event?

Its desecration: the new altar was dedicated 'at the very season and on the very day' the old one had been profaned, turning the date of an outrage into a festival.

In the Hanukkah story, the single cruse of pure oil the Maccabees found still bore whose unbroken seal?

The high priest's seal showed that this one jar had not been touched when the rest of the Temple's oil was defiled, so it alone was fit to light the lamp.

Which comedian is famous for performing The Chanukah Song?

Adam Sandler first performed The Chanukah Song on Saturday Night Live in 1994. The song lists famous Jewish celebrities and became a Hanukkah pop culture staple.

On which night of Hanukkah are all the candles on the lamp lit together?

The eighth night is the only one when the whole row burns, because one light is added each evening; the first night has a single flame beside the helper.

In the 1986 film An American Tail, what Hanukkah gift does the mouse Fievel receive?

A cap, handed down by his father at the family's Hanukkah celebration; moments later Cossacks and their cats burn the village, and the Mousekewitzes sail for America.

What jelly-filled pastry is a traditional Hanukkah treat in Israel?

Sufganiyot are the jam doughnuts that Polish Jewish immigrants brought to Israel as the ponchik; the Hebrew name was coined from a Talmudic word for spongy dough.

What is the helper candle on a hanukkiah called?

The shamash, Hebrew for 'attendant', exists because the eight Hanukkah lights are only to be looked at: any light people actually use is meant to come from the extra one.

Which Seleucid king outlawed Jewish practices and desecrated the Temple, sparking the Maccabean revolt?

Antiochus IV Epiphanes turned the Jerusalem sanctuary over to a syncretic pagan cult in 167 BCE, and was the first Seleucid king to put divine epithets on his coins.

In which direction are candles placed in the hanukkiah each night?

Candles are placed in the hanukkiah from right to left (adding a new candle to the left each night), but they are lit from left to right, so the newest candle is always lit first.

What does the Hebrew phrase 'Nes Gadol Haya Sham' mean?

A great miracle happened there: the four initials sit on the dreidel, but the letters came first, as the rules of a German gambling top, and the motto was read into them later.

Which Hanukkah hymn is called 'Rock of Ages' in English?

Ma'oz Tzur is sung to a tune thought to be borrowed from folk song, and 'Rock of Ages' is the title of a loose English version rather than a literal translation.

Which special passage is inserted into the Amidah and Grace After Meals during Hanukkah?

Al HaNissim, 'for the miracles', thanks God for handing 'the many into the hands of the few' and never mentions the oil that burned for eight days.

The Maccabean revolt against the Seleucids took place in which of these periods?

The main phase of the revolt ran from 167 to 160 BCE, but fighting with the Seleucids and Hellenized Jews dragged on until 134 BCE.

What is the Hebrew word for the dreidel spinning top?

Sevivon is built on a Hebrew root meaning 'to turn', as dreidel is on Yiddish dreyen; the toy itself was borrowed from a gambling top that Christians played at Christmastime.

On which TV show did Seth Cohen popularize the concept of 'Chrismukkah'?

The O.C.'s Seth Cohen, son of a Jewish father and a Protestant mother, merged his parents' holidays into Chrismukkah: eight days of presents, then one day of many presents.

Which hymn is recited immediately after the Hanukkah lights have been kindled?

Hanerot Halalu, 'these lights', is recited right after kindling; it declares the lights sacred, to be looked at and not used for any practical purpose, which is why the helper light exists.

What family name did the Maccabees belong to?

Hasmonean was the family's own name: it turned rebel leadership into a hereditary line of high priests and kings, whose last ruler was executed by the Romans under Mark Antony.

In Israel, how is the last letter on the dreidel different from the Diaspora version?

Shin is replaced with Pei on most Israeli dreidels because the word that letter stands for changes: in Israel, the events the motto recalls happened on the spot, not far away.

Which U.S. president hosted the first official White House Hanukkah party?

George W. Bush built the 2001 party around lighting a menorah in the White House residence, which he called a first in American history; the century-old lamp was borrowed from New York's Jewish Museum.

What does the name 'Maccabee' most likely mean?

The Hammer is the usual reading, though scholars are not unanimous: the nickname suits a commander who kept striking first, much as England's Edward I was called 'Hammer of the Scots'.

Why does Hanukkah fall on a different Gregorian date each year?

Its calendar follows the moon: twelve lunar months fall days short of a solar year, so a leap month is added in seven years out of every nineteen, which keeps Hanukkah from drifting toward summer.

Why are fried foods traditional at Hanukkah?

To recall the miracle of the Temple oil, anything fried counts; for the lamp itself the rabbis preferred olive oil, whose light they found clearer.

Hanukkah tradition honours which heroine, who got an enemy general drunk and then cut off his head?

Judith's book makes its villain a general of the Assyrians and never mentions Hanukkah, yet later Jewish tradition tied her victory to the festival anyway.

What structure did the Maccabees rededicate after their victory?

The Second Temple was cleansed with the enemy still next door: a Seleucid garrison held the citadel beside it, so fighters were posted to keep it busy while the priests worked.

In which Jewish text is the miracle of the oil lasting eight days first recorded?

The Talmud records it in tractate Shabbat 21b; the Books of Maccabees describe the rededication and the lamps but never mention oil lasting eight days.

According to Diodorus, the Seleucid king defiled the Temple altar by sacrificing which animal on it?

Diodorus says Antiochus IV sacrificed a pig, a great sow, on the altar and had the Jewish scriptures sprinkled with broth made from its flesh, a pointed insult to the dietary laws.

The English Hanukkah song 'Oh Chanukah' invites everyone to dance which dance?

'Oh Chanukah' runs 'let's have a party, we'll all dance the horah'; it is a loose English version, not a translation, of Mordkhe Rivesman's Yiddish 'Oy Khanike', first published in 1912.

How many candles are used over all eight nights of Hanukkah, counting the helper candle each night?

Two candles burn on the first night, three on the second and one more each night after, helper included, so the eight nights use 44 in all.

Italian Jews traditionally deep-fry which meat for Hanukkah?

Chicken, cut up and deep-fried, is the Italian Jewish main course for Hanukkah: frying is the point, so the bird takes the place the potato pancake holds further north.

What was the village where the Maccabean revolt began?

Modiin was the home village of the priest Mattathias; when the king's officers came there to enforce pagan sacrifice, he defied them and fled to the hills with his sons.

Polybius says detractors punned Antiochus IV's title Epiphanes into a nickname meaning what?

The pun was Epimanes, 'the Mad'; Polybius records Antiochus IV scattering money to strangers in Antioch, turning up in public bath houses and running for municipal office, behaviour that baffled contemporaries.

Which U.S. president was the first to light the National Menorah near the White House?

Jimmy Carter lit the first National Menorah in Lafayette Park in 1979, after Chabad's Abraham Shemtov had pressed to erect it near the White House.

According to 2 Maccabees, how did Jason become high priest when Antiochus IV took the throne?

He bought the office, 2 Maccabees says, promising the king hundreds of talents of silver; three years later the envoy he sent with the money outbid him and took the post himself.

Jews of which country traditionally mark Hanukkah with fried milk-dough balls soaked in rose-scented syrup?

India's Jews make gulab jamun for Hanukkah: the milk-dough balls are deep-fried, so they do the job that doughnuts and potato pancakes do elsewhere.

Which Psalm, the Song of the Dedication of the House, is traditionally recited on Hanukkah?

Psalm 30 owes its Hanukkah role to its heading, 'a song at the dedication of the house'; the psalm itself is one person's thanks for recovering from a grave illness.

Which debate exists between the Schools of Hillel and Shammai about lighting Hanukkah candles?

Ascending or descending count: Shammai's school began with eight lights and lit one fewer each night, while Hillel's added one each night, since holiness should only increase; practice follows Hillel.

Flory Jagoda's Hanukkah standard 'Ocho Kandelikas' is sung in which Jewish language?

Ladino is the Judeo-Spanish that Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 carried around the Mediterranean, which is why a songwriter born in Sarajevo wrote of 'eight little candles' in a form of Spanish.

According to 2 Maccabees, the first Hanukkah was a delayed observance of which festival missed during the fighting?

Sukkot, the eight-day autumn festival, had passed while the rebels were hiding in the mountains, so 2 Maccabees has them keep the rededication for eight days in its manner, palm fronds in hand.

Which rabbi's father wrote that the Hanukkah custom of eating fried pastries must be taken seriously?

Maimonides' father, Rabbi Maimon ben Yosef, wrote in the 12th century that nobody should make light of the fried-pastry custom, which he already called a practice of 'the ancient ones'.

Where was Antiochus IV when he died in 164 BCE?

On campaign in Persia: short of money, he had gone east to raise funds and failed to plunder a rich temple; the ancient accounts of his death differ, but all set it far from Judea.

Where should the hanukkiah ideally be placed according to Jewish law?

By a window or the door is where passers-by will see it, since the point is to publicize the miracle; only in times of danger did the rabbis allow it on a table indoors.

Which ancient historian's remark is the source of the name 'Festival of Lights'?

Josephus wrote in Antiquities of the Jews that 'we call it Lights', without ever using the name Hanukkah.

Which New Testament gospel places Jesus in the Temple during the 'Festival of Dedication'?

John has Jesus walking in the Temple, in Solomon's portico, at the winter Feast of the Dedication, so a festival the Hebrew Bible never mentions turns up in the New Testament.

Which 1st-century list of festive days is the earliest rabbinic text to name Hanukkah?

Megillat Taanit, the first-century 'Scroll of Fasting', lists days on which fasting or eulogizing is forbidden, the eight of Hanukkah among them; its later scholion adds the cruse-of-oil story.

In one ancient account, which exiled Hellenizing Jewish family urged Antiochus IV to retake Jerusalem?

The Tobiads, in that account, were driven out of the city when the high priest Onias gained the upper hand, so they fled to the king and urged him to invade Judea.

In 167 BCE, Antiochus IV ordered an altar to which god erected inside the Temple?

An altar to Zeus Olympios was set up on the Temple altar, the 'abomination of desolation' of 1 Maccabees 1:54; the same decree outlawed Jewish practice and provoked the Maccabean uprising.

Which Jewish rite did Antiochus IV explicitly ban alongside outlawing Temple worship?

Circumcision was banned on pain of death: 1 Maccabees tells of mothers executed for it, their circumcised infants hung from their necks.

How many sons of Mattathias led the rebellion with him?

Five sons joined him, each with his own nickname; one of those nicknames, Maccabee, ended up as the name for the whole family and its revolt.

Whom did Mattathias kill first to touch off the revolt?

A Jew offering the pagan sacrifice died first: Mattathias cut him down on the altar, then killed the king's officer and tore the altar down before fleeing to the hills.

Yosef Karo asked why Hanukkah has eight days when the oil's burning on which day was no miracle?

First: the jar held enough oil for that day, so only seven days were miraculous; one classic answer is that the oil burned down just a little each night.

At Beth Zechariah, the Maccabee brother Eleazar was crushed by what?

A war elephant: seeing one in royal armour, he took it for the king's mount, fought his way beneath it and speared it, and it fell on him.

Rome's reply to Judah Maccabee's alliance request reached Jerusalem written on what?

Bronze tablets carried the treaty of friendship, 1 Maccabees says, around 161 BCE: the earliest recorded agreement between Judea and the power that would end its independence a century later.

Which Roman general's capture of Jerusalem in 63 BCE ended Judea's independence?

Pompey took Jerusalem in 63 BCE after the rival brothers Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II had both appealed to Rome, and Judea became a Roman client state.

In 2 Maccabees 7, a mother and her seven sons die rather than do what?

In 2 Maccabees 7 the brothers are tortured to death one by one for refusing to eat pork; later rabbinic retellings recast it as refusing to bow to an idol, and they rank among the Hanukkah story's heroes.

In Sephardic custom, who kindles the Hanukkah lights for a household?

One member for all: the Shulchan Arukh rules that one set of lights serves even a large household, while the Rema's gloss, followed by many Ashkenazi families, has each member kindle a set.

In a 1989 Caldecott Honor picture book, Hershel of Ostropol outwits which creatures over the eight nights of Hanukkah?

Goblins: in Eric Kimmel's 'Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins' the trickster fools a different one each night, ending with their king; Trina Schart Hyman's illustrations earned the 1990 honor.

In Sephardic custom, when is the helper candle lit relative to the other Hanukkah lights?

Last: Sephardim kindle the other lights with a separate candle or match and only then light the helper, the reverse of the Ashkenazi order; some Hasidic groups do the same.

Which rabbi's 1970s campaign made public menorah lightings widespread in the US?

Menachem M. Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, urged his emissaries to take Hanukkah into the streets in 1973; the first public lighting followed a year later, and by 2013 about 15,000 were held worldwide.

Why does Jewish law oblige women as well as men to light Hanukkah candles?

They too were part of the miracle, the reason Rabbi Joshua ben Levi gives in tractate Shabbat 23a; in a related custom, many women do no work while the candles burn.

By ancient rule, Hanukkah lights burn until people have left which place?

The marketplace: the lights should last from sunset until foot traffic there ceases, so that passers-by see them, a span later codes reckoned at about half an hour.

On the Friday of Hanukkah, when are the festival's lights kindled?

Before the Sabbath candles: no flame may be kindled once Shabbat has begun, so the Hanukkah lights go first, ahead of sunset, and larger candles than usual keep them burning into the night.

Which blessing is added only on the first night of Hanukkah?

Shehecheyanu, which thanks God for keeping us alive to reach this season, is said over the lights only on the first night, as at the year's first occurrence of any festival.

Hanukkah's best-known hymn recalls exile in which empire in its third stanza?

Babylon: the stanza blames the exile on serving foreign gods and says rescue came within seventy years, the second of four deliverances the hymn recounts.

An acrostic in the first five stanzas of Hanukkah's best-known Hebrew hymn spells which poet's name?

Mordechai: the medieval poet signed the hymn this way and has never been firmly identified, and a second acrostic in the final stanza spells hazak, 'be strong'.

Miketz, the Torah portion usually read on the Sabbath of Hanukkah, tells which biblical figure's story?

Joseph: in Miketz he interprets Pharaoh's dreams and rises from prison to become the king's viceroy; the portion falls on the Sabbath of Hanukkah in most years.

What name do some give to the last day of Hanukkah?

Zot Hanukkah comes from 'Zot chanukat hamizbeach', words in the passage of Numbers read in synagogue that morning, which sums up the gifts the tribal chiefs brought for the altar.

Which bird was historically the traditional Hanukkah roast among Eastern European Jews?

Goose was the shtetl's Hanukkah feast: families began fattening the birds in early autumn for slaughter at the festival, and immigrants carried the custom to America before it faded.

One custom favors giving children Hanukkah money on which night, since it never falls on Shabbat?

The fifth night is the only one that can never fall on Shabbat, when handling money is forbidden, so the coins can change hands every year without conflict.

In 1996, which US institution marked Hanukkah for the first time in a joint release with Israel?

The Postal Service had been asked for a Hanukkah stamp for years; its 1996 issue shared one cut-paper design with Israel and opened the Holiday Celebrations series.

Which portmanteau, trademarked by a Boston-area marketer, named the 2013 overlap of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah?

Thanksgivukkah: Dana Gitell trademarked the name and sold T-shirts for November 28, 2013, the first time since 1888 that Thanksgiving fell on Hanukkah's first full day.

Which Hanukkah song did Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary write in 1982?

'Light One Candle' was Peter Yarrow's response to the 1982 Lebanon War, a plea for peace first sung at Carnegie Hall; Peter, Paul and Mary recorded it on 1986's 'No Easy Walk to Freedom'.

Which Hanukkah doll, seen on Shark Tank, began as a father's joke about The Elf on the Shelf?

Mensch on a Bench was Neal Hoffman's quip when his son asked for an Elf on the Shelf; a Kickstarter campaign funded the first dolls, and by 2014 the plush figure was on Target's shelves.

The dreidel is a Jewish variant of which European gambling top?

Teetotum: the four-sided gambling top, a Christmastime favourite in England and Ireland, reached Jews through its German version, whose letters they swapped for Hebrew ones.

In the dreidel game, what does a player win when the top lands on gimel?

Everything goes to the spinner: gimel stands for the Yiddish gantz, meaning whole.

Which children's author wrote the Hanukkah tale 'The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming'?

Lemony Snicket's latke leaps screaming from the hot oil and runs into a string of Christmas decorations, each of which mistakes it for part of their own holiday however hard it explains.

Where was Major League Dreidel founded in 2007?

New York City is where Eric Pavony launched Major League Dreidel in 2007; players spin on a board called the Spinagogue, and the longest spin wins, so skill replaces the luck of the letters.

The record-setting $70,000 dreidel of 2019 was modelled on which skyscraper?

The Chrysler Building stands a few blocks from Estate Diamond Jewelry's showroom, and its Art Deco lines shaped the dreidel that Guinness certified in 2019 as the world's most valuable.

Robert Feinerman showed the dreidel game is unfair in favor of whom?

Whoever spins first has the best expected result, Robert Feinerman showed in 1976, with each later player slightly worse off; a later proof found that games drag on with the square of the starting stakes.

A popular legend says Jews under Seleucid rule hid what forbidden activity behind games of dreidel?

Torah study: in the tale, pupils hid their scrolls and spun tops when soldiers came near; it is first recorded only in the 19th century, and the game itself reached Jews from a European top.

At a mock-serious University of Chicago debate held since 1946, the latke is pitted against which other Jewish food?

Hamantaschen: the Latke-Hamantash Debate began at the university's Hillel, and scholars, Nobel laureates among them, have argued the fried pancake against the triangular pastry ever since, with no winner declared.

Which rock star teamed with producer Greg Kurstin in 2020 for 'The Hanukkah Sessions', covering a Jewish artist each night?

Dave Grohl and Kurstin started the series during the pandemic, releasing one cover on each of the eight nights in the spirit of a present a night.

Latkes are traditionally served with sour cream or what other topping?

Applesauce suits a meat meal: once Eastern European cooks fried latkes in poultry fat, kosher law ruled out dairy toppings, so fruit became the pancake's partner.

Which organization in pre-state Israel pushed bakery doughnuts over homemade latkes to create jobs?

Histadrut: in the late 1920s the labor federation championed the doughnut because, unlike a pancake anyone could fry at home, it meant weeks of paid bakery work for its members.

Which Israeli artist created the 32-foot menorah lit near Central Park in Manhattan?

Yaacov Agam designed the steel menorah at Grand Army Plaza; it stops at 32 feet because Jewish law voids a Hanukkah lamp set above twenty cubits, so Con Edison lifts each lighter in a crane.

Which 1989 Supreme Court case upheld public menorah displays on government property?

County of Allegheny v. ACLU upheld Pittsburgh's menorah beside a Christmas tree as conveying a secular message of the winter holiday season, while striking down a creche displayed alone.

What name did a nine-year-old give the turkey-shaped menorah he designed for Hanukkah 2013?

The Menurkey was Asher Weintraub's idea: the Manhattan fourth-grader built a prototype and raised the money on Kickstarter to sell it in the year Hanukkah and Thanksgiving coincided.

In December 2024, Kyiv lit a hanukkiah made from fragments of what?

Russian drones and rockets fired at Ukraine supplied the metal; military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov lit the first candle at Kyiv's Jewish community centre beside the city's chief rabbi.

On which SNL segment was 'The Chanukah Song' first performed in 1994?

Weekend Update hosted the debut on December 3, 1994; the singer said school had been full of Christmas songs while Jewish kids had only the dreidel song, so he wrote them a new one.

Which star corrected 'The Chanukah Song' about his own ancestry with the single word 'Half!'?

Harrison Ford put it to the song's writer in person: the lyric calls him a quarter Jewish, but his mother was Jewish, which makes him half.

Which singer covered 'The Chanukah Song' on a 2009 Christmas album?

Neil Diamond closed A Cherry Cherry Christmas with the song, tweaking its lyrics; he said there were plenty of beautiful Christmas songs and too few for Hanukkah.

Which Office character parodies 'The Chanukah Song' with 'The Diwali Song'?

Michael Scott sings 'The Diwali Song' at a Hindu festival in the season 3 episode 'Diwali', the same night his public proposal to Carol is turned down.

In a 2002 animated Hanukkah comedy, Whitey Duvall is an aging volunteer in what role?

Basketball referee: Whitey, a fixture of the town's youth league, persuades a judge to spare troublemaker Davey Stone jail by taking him on as a referee-in-training.

In 'A Rugrats Chanukah', which baby imagines himself the Maccabee hero?

Tommy Pickles leads the 'Maccababies' as Grandma Minka reads the story, while Grandpa Boris feuds with Shlomo, an old rival cast as the Greek king in the synagogue play.

Which Rugrats holiday special aired in 1995, a year before the Chanukah one?

'A Rugrats Passover' aired in April 1995; Nickelodeon had first asked for a Chanukah special, but the crew chose to tell the Passover story before returning to it.

What is the German term for a blended Christmas-Hanukkah celebration?

Weihnukka, fusing Weihnachten and Chanukka, began in the 19th century as a jibe at German Jewish families who kept Christmas customs; Berlin's Jewish Museum made it an exhibition title in 2005.

Who wrote in his 1895 diary that his children's Christmas tree might as well be called a 'Hanukkah tree'?

Theodor Herzl made the remark after Vienna's chief rabbi called on Christmas Eve and found the tree lit; weeks later he published The Jewish State, his call for a Jewish homeland.

Which Israeli leader presented President Truman with a Hanukkah menorah in the Oval Office in 1951?

David Ben-Gurion handed it over on 8 May 1951, Truman's birthday, so the White House's earliest link to Hanukkah was forged in spring, months away from the festival.

In 2024 the first night of Hanukkah fell on which holiday?

Christmas Day: the first candle was lit on the evening of December 25, 2024, a match last seen in 2005, so the festival ran into the new year.

Which SNL cast member played Hanukkah Harry?

Jon Lovitz played Hanukkah Harry, who in a 1989 sketch fills in for a sick Santa and leaves the children slacks and socks instead of toys.

Hanukkah Harry flies through the air on a cart pulled by three what?

Donkeys haul his cart from a workshop on Mount Sinai; when the children come round to his sensible gifts, Santa's flu lifts and he arrives with the toys after all.

Which president is credited with giving the National Menorah its name?

Ronald Reagan's statement, read during the 1982 lighting in Lafayette Park, gave the National Menorah its name.

In 1974, Rabbi Abraham Shemtov kindled a public menorah at the foot of which landmark?

Shemtov's 1974 lighting at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia was Chabad's first public menorah; the next year rock promoter Bill Graham sponsored its menorah in San Francisco's Union Square.

Which member of the Maccabee family was the father of the later ruler John Hyrcanus?

Simon, the last surviving brother, was murdered at a banquet near Jericho by his son-in-law Ptolemy; his son John Hyrcanus escaped the plot and succeeded him.

Who spoke for the Biden administration at the National Menorah lighting in December 2023?

Doug Emhoff, the first Jewish spouse of a US vice president, told the crowd that American Jews felt alone and in pain, then left the stage before the lamp itself was lit.

Mattathias's ruling about the Sabbath permitted Jews to do what?

Fight if attacked: after a thousand Jews let themselves be killed rather than break the Sabbath, Mattathias and his followers resolved to defend themselves on that day (1 Maccabees 2:39-41).

After killing Apollonius, Judah took and used which trophy until his own death?

His sword: 1 Maccabees says Judah fought with Apollonius's own weapon for the rest of his life, and that news of the win brought the Syrian commander Seron out against him next.

Which composer wrote the 1746 oratorio Judas Maccabaeus?

Handel wrote Judas Maccabaeus in 1746 as a compliment to the Duke of Cumberland, home victorious from Culloden; its best-known chorus was composed for his next oratorio and added later.

Antiochus IV appears to have originally borne which name?

He was born Mithridates and took the dynastic name Antiochus later; he spent years as a Roman hostage under the Treaty of Apamea before seizing the throne in 175 BCE.

A Roman envoy's circle drawn in the sand forced Antiochus IV to abandon his invasion of which land?

Egypt: in 168 BCE Gaius Popillius Laenas traced a circle around the king with a vine stick and demanded his answer to the Senate's ultimatum before he stepped out of it; Antiochus withdrew.

Before the battle of Emmaus, Judah sent home the newly betrothed and the fearful, following which biblical book's rules of war?

Deuteronomy 20 excuses new homeowners, vineyard planters, the betrothed and the fainthearted; 1 Maccabees says Judah applied it, then led about 3,000 men on the night march that surprised the camp at Emmaus.

Who composed the most popular modern tune for the song 'Al Hanisim' in 1975?

The song, drawn from the liturgy, is also an Israeli folk dance.

Which Hebrew greeting do Jews commonly exchange at Hanukkah?

Chag sameach, 'happy holiday', is an all-purpose festival greeting, so at Hanukkah speakers often slot the holiday's name into the middle of it.

Which Sephardic Hanukkah treat is a ball of fried dough drizzled with honey or syrup?

Bimuelos are puffs of yeast dough, fried and glazed with honey; they are the Sephardic form of the Spanish buñuelo, found wherever Jews of Iberian descent settled.

In the sitcom Friends, Ross Geller teaches his son Ben about Hanukkah while dressed as which animal?

Armadillo was the fallback after Ross failed to find a Santa suit, so he invented the 'Holiday Armadillo' to win his half-Jewish son over to the festival.

Which animated film opens with the Mousekewitz family of mice marking Hanukkah in tsarist Russia?

An American Tail begins with Papa handing young Fievel his hat as a Hanukkah gift, moments before Cossacks and their cats attack the village. The family then sails for the United States, where Papa believes there are no cats.

Mensch on a Bench, a Hanukkah doll inspired by The Elf on the Shelf, appeared on which TV show?

Shark Tank gave the doll-and-book set a national stage after a Kickstarter campaign got it made. The whole idea began as its creator's joke about the elf.

The kings who ruled Judea in the Hanukkah story inherited part of which conqueror's empire?

Alexander the Great's realm was divided after his death, and his general Seleucus built a new empire from the pieces. That dynasty later outlawed Jewish worship, provoking the Maccabees.

Which slow-braised cut of beef is the classic Ashkenazi main course at Hanukkah and Rosh Hashanah?

Brisket was cheap, and it comes from the front of the animal, which keeps it kosher. Hours in a low oven tame the tough cut into the best-known Jewish holiday main course in the United States.

Which sporting event, nicknamed the 'Jewish Olympics', is named after the Hanukkah story's hero?

Maccabiah Games first opened in Tel Aviv in 1932, in a stadium built on donations and filled to capacity. Jewish athletes from around the world now gather for them every four years.

Which US president was given a menorah by Ben-Gurion, the White House's earliest link to Hanukkah?

Harry Truman was handed the menorah in 1951. Decades later the same lamp was lit at a White House reception by his grandson alongside a grandson of Ben-Gurion.

Hanukkah's civil date shifts every year because the Hebrew calendar is which type of calendar?

Lunisolar calendars count months by the moon and years by the sun. The Hebrew version slots in a whole leap month 7 times in every 19 years, so its festivals wobble against the civil date but stay in season.

Which film ends at Hanukkah, with teenage Elio weeping by the fire after Oliver phones with news?

Call Me by Your Name closes months after its Italian summer: Oliver rings during Hanukkah to say he is engaged, and Elio stares into the flames while dinner is laid behind him.

Which Utah senator, a Latter-day Saint, wrote the lyrics to the song 'Eight Days of Hanukkah'?

Orrin Hatch took the idea from journalist Jeffrey Goldberg and teamed up with Madeline Stone, a Jewish songwriter who specializes in Christian music. Goldberg called the result 'a hip hop Hannukah song'.

The Maccabeats' viral a cappella Hanukkah video 'Candlelight' is a rewrite of which Taio Cruz hit?

Dynamite got its Hanukkah rewrite from a student group founded at Yeshiva University, and the video drew two million views in ten days. The singers later performed at the White House.

Which folk musician, inspired by his poet mother-in-law, wrote Hanukkah lyrics the Klezmatics set to music?

Woody Guthrie lived in Brooklyn near his mother-in-law, the poet Aliza Greenblatt, and the two critiqued each other's work. His daughter Nora rediscovered the lyrics decades later.

Which author wrote 'The Power of Light', eight Hanukkah tales illustrated by Holocaust survivor Irene Lieblich?

Isaac Bashevis Singer chose Lieblich himself after seeing her paintings at an exhibition. She came from a town beside the region where he grew up, and he felt her pictures matched his own memories of shtetl life.

Which monument in Rome shows the Jerusalem Temple's golden menorah being carried off as war booty?

Arch of Titus reliefs show the Temple's treasures paraded through Rome in a victory procession. Its carved lamp later served as the model for the menorah on the Israeli state emblem.

Later tradition gave which name to the unnamed mother who watches her sons martyred in 2 Maccabees?

Hannah is what the medieval chronicle Josippon calls her, perhaps echoing the Hannah of the Hebrew Bible. Other traditions name her Miriam, Solomonia or Shmuni.

Which Greek institution did the Hellenizer Jason bring to Jerusalem before the Maccabean revolt?

A gymnasium came with a new Greek-style city that Jason won royal permission to found at Jerusalem, where children would be raised in the Greek manner. Critics charged him with eroding Jewish autonomy.

Residents of which Montana city put paper menorahs in their windows after a brick hit a Jewish home?

Billings churchgoers began the gesture in 1993 after the brick came through a window where a menorah stood. The local newspaper then printed a full-size menorah for readers to cut out and display.

Which musical satirist wrote the song '(I'm Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica'?

Tom Lehrer wrote it for Garrison Keillor's radio programme, years after he had largely quit performing to teach. The song waited until 2024 for release as a single.

The spellings Hanukkah and Chanukah both try to capture which Hebrew letter that begins the word?

Chet, also written het or heth, is a throaty consonant English lacks, close to the 'ch' in the Scottish 'loch'. Dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster settle on the H spelling.

Astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman spun a dreidel in orbit in 1993 during a shuttle mission to repair what?

Hubble Space Telescope repairs kept two pairs of astronauts busy on alternating spacewalks, and Hoffman set his top going for a live audience watching by satellite. He had packed a travel menorah as well.

In the Yiddish version of the 'dreidel, dreidel, dreidel' song, the toy is made of which metal?

Lead ('blai') is the material in Mikhl Gelbart's Yiddish lyric, in which the dreidel itself does the singing. The English lyric makes it clay and hands the song to a child with a toy.

In gematria, the dreidel's four letters total 358, the same value as the Hebrew word for what?

Messiah ('Moshiach') also adds up to 358, a match some rabbis find meaningful in a child's toy. Another commentary ties the four letters to four ancient empires that ruled the Jewish people.

In Major League Dreidel tournaments, a player wins by achieving which feat with the top?

The longest spin wins, clocked as 'TOS', short for time of spin. The spoof league even named its official playing surface the Spinagogue.

In the dreidel game, a player whose top lands on the letter nun does what with the pot?

Leaves it untouched: nun stands for 'nisht', so play simply passes to the next person. Shin is the costly side, obliging the spinner to give up a piece.

The modern Hebrew word for dreidel was reportedly coined by the young son of which Zionist-era figure?

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda's son Itamar Ben-Avi said he came up with it at the age of 5, though the writer David Silberbusch also claimed it in print. The poet Bialik's rival word, 'kirkar', never caught on.

Which songwriter had a US Top 40 hit in the early 1970s with a song called 'Dreidel'?

Don McLean took 'Dreidel' to number 21 on the Billboard chart. It came from the introspective self-titled album that followed his biggest success.

Which Hamilton star teamed up with Disney Channel in 2020 on the track 'Puppy for Hanukkah'?

Daveed Diggs made it with two lifelong friends, his bandmates in the experimental hip-hop group Clipping. A Disney music executive called the result 'inventive, humorous, and relevant'.

Which puppeteer starred with her sock puppet in the award-winning video 'Lamb Chop's Special Chanukah'?

Shari Lewis won a Parents' Choice Award for the video. A few years earlier Lamb Chop had been given permission to speak when Lewis testified before Congress about children's television.

Which indie rock band made a tradition of playing all eight nights of Hanukkah at Maxwell's in Hoboken?

Yo La Tengo rented the club for the run most years until it first closed in 2013. Their marathon later inspired a producer to assemble the compilation album Hanukkah+.

Medieval Italian synagogues read a scroll about Antiochus at Hanukkah, just as which book is read at Purim?

Esther has its scroll read aloud every Purim, and the Hanukkah text, Megillat Antiochus, was treated the same way. Yemenite Jews still keep it in their liturgy.