Chanukah

Embark on a journey of Jewish learning and discovery, exploring the depth of our Chanukah resources, where tagged items including audio, programs, and podcast episodes await your exploration.

Chanukah Program

Rabbi Dr. Aaron Adler, Rabbi Menachem Leibtag, Rabbi Dr. Zvi Leshem and 5 more

Chanukah Shiurim: All times are Eastern Sunday, Dec. 13:   11:00am The Story of Chanukah, According to the Book of Maccabees: A Different Miracle, or a Different Perspective?  Rabbi Menachem Leibtag Monday, Dec. 14:   11:00amChanukah: Nature and…
Program
Dec 9, 2020

Chanukah: Timing the Market

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Before there were clocks and standard time, time was determined in relation to the position of the sun—hence, the importance of the sundial. As a rule our Sages followed this course, teaching, for example, that one may daven mincha …
Article
Dec 30, 2019

Chanukah: An Eternal Message

Rabbi Jay Kelman

One of the painful realties of Jewish life is that the Jewish people are often judged by a double standard. What in other cultures is done with impunity often causes an uproar when it is the State of Israel doing the exact same thing. While…
Article
Dec 23, 2019

Meat, Milk and the Chanukah Candles

Rabbi Dr. Aaron Adler

Audio
Dec 2, 2019

Chanukah: A Special Nation

Rabbi Jay Kelman

One of the painful realities of Jewish life is that the Jewish people are often judged by a double standard. What in other cultures is done with impunity often causes an uproar when it is the State of Israel doing the exact same thing. While…
Article
Dec 3, 2018

Chanukah: Looking Backward and Forward

Rabbi Jay Kelman

The holiday of Chanukah is a most beloved one. Lighting the candles is the only mitzvah that has, built into its performance, a three-tiered system: what we may call good, better and best. We begin with the basic mitzvah of one candle per household…
Article
Dec 13, 2017

Chanukah: 70 Bulls and 8 Lights

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Perhaps the greatest challenge facing Jewishly conscious people in the modern world is figuring out the proper relationship we are to have vis a vis the outside world. Should it be one of rejection, integration or compromise? The above models have…
Article
Dec 25, 2016

Chanukah: The Dark Days of Winter

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Of all our holidays, only that of Chanukah begins in the second half of the month. Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Shavuot occur towards the beginning of the month, when the moon is growing stronger. Pesach, Sukkot, Purim (at least in Jerusalem), Tu b…
Article
Dec 11, 2015

Mai Chanukah

Rabbi Jay Kelman

"Mai Chanukah? What is Chanukah?" (Shabbat 21b). To this rather strange question, the Gemara answers, "Our Rabbis taught: From the twenty-fifth of Kislev the days of Chanukah are eight on which eulogies and fasting are forbidden" (Shabbat 21b). The…
Article
Dec 21, 2014

The Prophet Who Stole Channuka: The Biblical Roots of a Rabbinical Holiday

Rabbi Menachem Leibtag

Audio
Dec 17, 2014