Wondering how to celebrate Hanukkah during corona? I gathered for you some practical and fun ideas on how to celebrate Hanukkah in 2020 while keeping both holiday tradition and social distance.
Hanukkah (חנוכה) is The Festival of light, is about finding the light in the darkness, and it’s meaning fits perfectly into our times of a global pandemic.
We must find the light (focus on the positive things) and bring it into our life.
This holiday is also about family and loved ones getting together, below I have included many ideas on how to celebrate Hanukkah, honor the tradition, while not endangering friends and family.
1. Light The Menorah
Right after nightfall, once it’s dark, you light the candles on the Menorah.
According to Jewish tradition, after the Maccabees’ victory over the Greeks, there was only enough oil to burn for one day in the Temple.
Miraculously the oil burned for eight days. Lighting the Hanukkah Menorah commemorates this miracle.
The preferred way is to use pure olive oil, just like the Menorah in the holy temple.
The Menorah is placed near the window, to spread the light!
This is the most important tradition, to keep a social distance, you can set a time to light candles with your friends and family using Zoom to honor and celebrate the holiday.
- You can also Make these kids friendly, DIY Menorahs
- When lighting the candles, in addition to the traditional prayer, you can do a roundup where each member lights a candle in order to get over an obstacle or a difficulty (a “darkness”) in his life, after all, this holiday is about celebrating light and happiness!
2. Hanukkah Songs
Well, there’s the traditional ones like Ha’nerot Halalo (these candles; הנרות הללו) and well-known Dreidel song.
But there is actually lack of Hanukkah tunes and I think Adam’s Sandler’s Hannukah song about all famous Jewish people you might not know about, is a fun one to watch together
Another option is listening to The Maccabeat (which is a takeoff on the Maccabeem..)
“I flip my Latke in the air sometimes, saying hey oh, spin the dreidel!” funny guys!
3. Hanukkah Gelt
To remember the high point of Jewish freedom, and the great victory symbolized by the Maccabee coin, many parents give their children Hanukkah Gelt (money).
Hanukkah is also a special time to give charity.
This shows that we are truly grateful to God for all that He has done for us.
Hanukkah is a great time to invest in a worthy cause, especially these days of a world pandemic.
4. Spin the Dreidel!
What is a dreidel?
In Hebrew Sevivon (סביבון), in English spinning top, the word Dreidel comes from Yiddish (Ashkenazy Jews language) “Drey” means “To spin”.
The Hebrew letters say “Nes Gadol Haya Sham” (a great miracle happened there).
In Israel the letters are different and the meaning is “a great miracle happened HERE“, and the letter “Shin” (ש) is replaced with the letter “Peh” ( פ) to indicate the miracle actually happened in Israel.
How you can play with the dreidel?
This one is an ancient game, you can play with your family and friends:
-Each player begins the game with equal number of coins (you can also use m&m’s, popcorn, or some cheerios)
-At the beginning of each round, everyone puts one piece into the center (“pot”).
-Each player spins the dreidel once during their turn.
-Depending on which side is facing up when it stops spinning, the player whose turn it is gives or takes game pieces from the pot:
· If נ (nun) is facing up, the player does nothing.
· If ג (gimel) is facing up, the player gets everything in the pot.
· If ה (hei) is facing up, the player gets half of the pieces in the pot. If there are an odd number of pieces in the pot, the player takes half the pot rounded up to the nearest whole number.
· If ש (shin) or פ (pe) is facing up, the player adds one of their game pieces to the pot
You can have fun spin the dreidel game, at home with your family, or you can play with your friends and family in this awesome online dreidel game!
5. Make Some Yum, Traditional Holiday Foods
On Hanukkah, Jews observe the custom of eating fried foods in commemoration of the miracle associated with the Temple oil.
- You can make Latkes with your kids and family
- another option is to make sufganiyot (Hanukkah doughnuts)
- The traditional Sufganiot are sweet and filled with strawberry jam. A fun game to play is where each family member says one sweet thing about another family member, just like the sweet Sufgania.
6. Send Hanukkah Holiday Cards To Your Friends and Family
Using my funny Hanukkah holiday cards prints you can download for free.
(“I like you a Latke”, “Shine bright like a Menorah” and more!).
7. Play an Online Hanukkah Quiz
This Hanukkah quiz is a wonderful opportunity to learn about the festival of light, the traditions, the history and have some fun while doing it! This can also be done via zoom.
Of course, you can also make your own quiz, using zoom & Kahoot!
I hope you will find these ideas helpful, have a happy and safe Hanukkah!
