Last week we had a chance to video conference with Lisa Desberg to learn all about Chanukah. Lisa is Jewish and she celebrates Chanukah with her family in the United States. We learned that Chanukah is celebrated because a long time ago the Jewish people called the Maccabees took back their Temple in Jerusalem from the Greek “bad guys” that had taken it over. The Temple had been destroyed on the inside by the bad guys and the Maccabees wanted to fix the Temple. To fix the temple the Maccabees needed special oil to light the candles on the Temple’s menorah for eight days, but they were only able to find enough oil in the Temple to keep the menorah lit for one day. By some miracle, the menorah stayed lit for the entire eight days, and the Jewish people have celebrated the Chanukah ever since.
Here are some other things we learned about Chanukah:
1. Chanukah is about spending time with our families.
2. People who celebrate Chanukah light one candle in their menorahs each day for eight days. A menorah is a candle holder. Lisa and her daughter have their own menorahs.
2. Jewish people eat latkes and apple sauce during Chanukah. Latkes are potato pancakes. They sound yummy!
3. Kids play a game called dreidel. We learned a song about the dreidel and we played dreidel after our video conference.Mrs. Cassell is bringing in chocolate gold coins for us to play dreidel todayand we get to take our very own dreidels home!
4. Kids get presents every day for eight days. Awesome!
5. Jewish people don’t have a Santa. But Lisa said she believes in Santa.
6. Chanukah is kind of like Christmas because we spend time with our families, eat yummy foods, play games, and get presents.
Here are some videos from our video conference:
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Thank you Lisa for sharing your holiday traditions with us! We hope you will write to us on our blog. 🙂
Leigh Cassell Consulting 
Hello, Canadian friends – here is what my 2nd grade daughter Angelina wrote to you in honor of Chanukah –
Chanukah is a Jewish holiday that comes around Christmas time. You play dreidel. Dreidel is a spinning top. When you play dreidel you get a chance to win gelt, a chocolate candy that looks like a gold coin. During Chanukah, you eat latkes & jelly donuts. A latke is a potato pancake that is fried in oil the reason we eat things that are fried in oil is because a long time a go there was a war between an army called the Maccabees & the Sireens (Syrians). After the war was over & the Maccabees won their temple back, there was only oil to last for one night, but instead of lasting one night, it lasted for eight. It was a miracle! On Chanukah we celebrate the festival of lights by lighting the menorah. It has nine candles including the shamash. The shamash is a helper candle to help light the menorah. Have a happy and healthy holiday no matter what holiday you celebrate.
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