For the 3rd time since 1900, Hanukkah begins… 10:55 pm Thursday

It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s a cause for celebration.

The public display contrasts with the most important of Jewish holidays, Passover, which is celebrated in the privacy of one’s home with a meal, Krinsky said.

Local Jewish leaders trace “Chrismukkah” to the Jewish lunar calendar, in which the months correspond to the 29 1/2-day lunar cycle. But sometimes they coincide, and this is one of those years, so when Christians awake to their holy holiday on Sunday, Jews also will be celebrating.

To celebrate Hanukkah, aka the Festival of Lights, Jews light a candle on the first night of Hanukkah, two on the second, and one more on each successive night of the eight-night holiday.

The other special holiday that begins its celebration today at sunset is Hanukkah, which means dedication, and it is celebrated for eight days. The Hanukkiah we have has been handed down through my grandmother, who said she got it from her mother in law, so it dates back further than a century.

Kowalski explained that just as Christians have incorporated symbols into their holiday, so too have Jews.

“Judah Maccabee and his band faced daunting odds, but that didn’t stop them”, the website said, noting that the celebration varies from late November to late December each year.

“By returning to and reclaiming the Temple, the Maccabees recommitted themselves to a Jewish way of life, to all that they held dear”, reads the website of the Union for Reform Judaism.

“Every night we light another candle, and what that represents is we’re always adding in goodness”, he said. That’s the reason there is a nine branch candelabra, one candle for each of the eight days and one candle used to light the other candles.

The children are excited as the first candle is lit.

Jewish Community Center Executive Director Stuart Forman said the miracle was not only spiritual in that the flame remained lit with limited oil, but also military in that the Maccabees were able to retake the temple with a much smaller military force.

It’s called a dreidel (from the Yiddish, the language of many European Jews) and it’s practically the official game of Hanukkah.

Gelt is a candy gift designed as chocolate money.

The Grand Menorah Parade begins at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Siegel JCC on Garden of Eden Road in Talleyville, with a menorah lighting, jelly doughnuts and Jewish rap. The letters stand for the “A great miracle there”.

What would a holiday be without traditional foods?

“They only wanted to use kosher oil when they burned the lamps in the Temple”, Goldstein said.

Lana and her husband Luke, 30, have been married since April and this will be their first year going from Christmas lunch with Luke’s parents to Hanukkah dinner with hers. A little more than one-third (37 percent) of intermarried Jews raising children say they are not raising them Jewish at all.