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Irish Zionist:
Muman thanks for answering my hard question, I hope this one isn't that hard.
Can you tell me why there is 9 candles for Chanukah?

muman613:

--- Quote from: Irish Zionist on November 30, 2009, 11:48:17 AM ---Muman thanks for answering my hard question, I hope this one isn't that hard.
Can you tell me why there is 9 candles for Chanukah?

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On Channukah we use a special menorah just for the Yom Tov... A normal Menorah has Six branches and one in the middle for a total of seven candles... A Chanukah Menorah has Eight branches {four on each side} and one in the middle for a total of nine candles....

The Holiday of Channukah is to remember the miracle which occured after the Maccabees defeated the Greeks and there was only enough oil to light the menorah for one day, and it miraculously burned for eight days. The sages decreed that we will forever remember this miracle by lighting one candle on each of the eight nights of Channukah. The reason there is a ninth candle is that we use this candle, the shamash, as the candle to light each of the eight other candles. We light one candle on the first night, using the Shamash, and then we light two candles on the second night, again using the Shamash as the candle to light with.... The reason for this is explained by the sages... I have provided some links with some good information about the Miraculous holiday of Channukah...


References:

http://www.torah.org/learning/yomtov/chanukah/5755/vol1no58.html
http://www.torah.org/chanukah.html

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm


--- Quote ---
Traditions

    Our rabbis taught the rule of Chanukkah: ... on the first day one [candle] is lit and thereafter they are progressively increased ... [because] we increase in sanctity but do not reduce. -Shabbat 21b, Babylonian Talmud

Chanukkah is not a very important religious holiday. The holiday's religious significance is far less than that of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Passover, and Shavu'ot. It is roughly equivalent to Purim in significance, and you won't find many non-Jews who have even heard of Purim! Chanukkah is not mentioned in Jewish scripture; the story is related in the book of Maccabees, which Jews do not accept as scripture.

Chanukkah Menorah
The only religious observance related to the holiday is the lighting of candles. The candles are arranged in a candelabrum called a menorah (or sometimes called a chanukkiah) that holds nine candles: one for each night, plus a shammus (servant) at a different height. On the first night, one candle is placed at the far right. The shammus candle is lit and three berakhot (blessings) are recited: l'hadlik neir (a general prayer over candles), she-asah nisim (a prayer thanking G-d for performing miracles for our ancestors at this time), and she-hekhianu (a general prayer thanking G-d for allowing us to reach this time of year). See Chanukkah Candle Lighting Blessings for the full text of these blessings. After reciting the blessings, the first candle is then lit using the shammus candle, and the shammus candle is placed in its holder. The candles are allowed to burn out on their own after a minimum of 1/2 hour.

Candlelighting Procedure Each night, another candle is added from right to left (like the Hebrew language). Candles are lit from left to right (because you pay honor to the newer thing first). On the eighth night, all nine candles (the 8 Chanukkah candles and the shammus) are lit. See animation at right for the candlelighting procedure. On nights after the first, only the first two blessings are recited; the third blessing, she-hekhianu is only recited on the first night of holidays.

Why the shammus candle? The Chanukkah candles are for pleasure only; we are not allowed to use them for any productive purpose. We keep an extra one around (the shammus), so that if we need to do something useful with a candle, we don't accidentally use the Chanukkah candles. The shammus candle is at a different height so that it is easily identified as the shammus.

It is traditional to eat fried foods on Chanukkah because of the significance of oil to the holiday. Among Ashkenazic Jews, this usually includes latkes (pronounced "lot-kuhs" or "lot-keys" depending on where your grandmother comes from. Pronounced "potato pancakes" if you are a goy.) My recipe is included later in this page.

Gift-giving is not a traditional part of the holiday, but has been added in places where Jews have a lot of contact with Christians, as a way of dealing with our children's jealousy of their Christian friends. It is extremely unusual for Jews to give Chanukkah gifts to anyone other than their own young children. The only traditional gift of the holiday is "gelt," small amounts of money.

Another tradition of the holiday is playing dreidel, a gambling game played with a square top. Most people play for matchsticks, pennies, M&Ms or chocolate coins. The traditional explanation of this game is that during the time of Antiochus' oppression, those who wanted to study Torah (an illegal activity) would conceal their activity by playing gambling games with a top (a common and legal activity) whenever an official or inspector was within sight.

DreidelsA dreidel is marked with four Hebrew letters: Nun, Gimel, Hei and Shin. These letters stand for the Hebrew phrase "Nes Gadol Hayah Sham", a great miracle happened there, referring to the miracle of the oil.

The letters also stand for the Yiddish words nit (nothing), gantz (all), halb (half) and shtell (put), which are the rules of the game! There are some variations in the way people play the game, but the way I learned it, everyone puts in one coin. A person spins the dreidel. If it lands on Nun, nothing happens; on Gimel (or, as we called it as kids, "gimme!"), you get the whole pot; on Hei, you get half of the pot; and on Shin, you put one in. When the pot is empty, everybody puts one in. Keep playing until one person has everything. Then redivide it, because nobody likes a poor winner.

You can play a virtual dreidel game here! Requires JavaScript.
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✡ Hindu Zionist ॐ:
shalom muman,

can you tell me more about city of Jericho. Is it one of the holy city for the Jews? and what significance does the city have?

muman613:

--- Quote from: ✡ Hindu Zionist ॐ on December 02, 2009, 11:53:32 AM ---shalom muman,

can you tell me more about city of Jericho. Is it one of the holy city for the Jews? and what significance does the city have?

--- End quote ---

Hindu Zionist,

I have not been ignoring your question, quite the opposite... I need to refresh my memory concerning Jericho. We have no holidays to remember it and the story is a short one. I have been doing some research and hope to come up with some good material for this topic. I should post more tomorrow...

Every Jew AK47:
Shalom Muman,

My question is, do you think all people who don't like reggae music are stuck up? 

I read your posts and you seem like a great guy.   No hard feelings bro..  I just don't dig reggae..  But, you may think its crazy, the Grateful Dead does have a few good tunes, you said you were a deadhead , right?  I live in Deadhead USA.   Remember how the shows use to clog up the freeways around here.

Anyhow, shalom v'ahava.

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