Eight Nights of Light: Network Staff Chanukah Traditions
December 3, 2024 | Shabbat and Holidays
By Amy Goldberg
Jewish families are blessed to have eight full nights to find meaning and celebration in the Jewish holiday of Chanukah, the Festival of Lights. Chanukah celebrates the success of the Maccabees the small Jewish army who fought against the Greeks in the pursuit of religious freedom. Traditionally, we light the hanukkiah (Chanukah menorah) for eight nights, spin the dreidel, and eat delicious foods fried in oil such as latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly-filled doughnuts) as we retell the story of Hanukkah with our family.
This year, Chanukah begins on Wednesday, December 25th, and falls during the school-wide winter break. With extra family time, it’s a perfect opportunity to explore and create new traditions alongside the classic ones. I reached out to my colleagues at the Jewish Connection Network and our incredible parent Community Connectors to hear about their unique and meaningful ways of celebrating Chanukah. Here’s what they shared:
Creative Family Traditions from Our Staff
Martha Goodman: “We do a donut-themed puzzle over the whole Chanukah and eat Shnitzel for our Chanukah Shabbat meal.”
Maian Rahvalschi: “In our family, we usually make churros as our version of fried delicacy.”
Brenda Footer: “We always make a donation to a nonprofit in their honor. We choose an organization that is meaningful to that person.”
Kate Kirby: “I try to bake a new dessert every year and branch out from the traditional Chanukah desserts. This year I’m thinking of trying cranberry lemon bars.”
Abigail Malischostak: “My mom always liked to do a night where the gift was PJs. I also like to get sufganiyot from the different bakeries and do a blind taste test.”
Laura Wilson: “My sisters-in-law and I are going to be doing a make-your-own candle night.”
Erica Bloom: “Every year, my family invites our neighbors and some school friends to our house for one of the nights, most of which are not Jewish. We make it a welcoming and educational opportunity with latkes, lighting, and more. Our neighbors look forward to it every year. The kids ask when they’re coming to celebrate Chanukah!”
Addie Lewis Klein: “I’m thinking about starting a cousin fidget exchange. Instead of buying new gifts for cousins, each kid selects a fidget they think is cool, but they no longer play with, and do their own white elephant exchange, but only for fidgets.”
Rachel Turniansky: “We’ve done a family gift exchange where you bring something random but have to tie it into Chanukah, like an olive oil bottle.”
Amy Goldberg: “Every year, I like to make a new spin on latkes. Last year, I made pickle latkes. This year, I’m thinking about Old Bay seasoned latkes!”
Parent Connectors Share Their Favorite Traditions
Alana Bloomfield, Towson Parent Connector
“My mom has a big bag of all kinds of dreidels. Glass dreidels, magnetic dreidels that spin around magnetic shapes, dreidels that light up and sign, etc. She’s had her collection since I was a kid, and now she brings it out for my boys to enjoy each year.”
Jenn Wolff, Parkville Parent Connector
“We are still building our family traditions, but we always go to 34th Street in Hampden to see both the Christmas and Hanukkah houses. We also plan to attend the menorah lighting event at The Avenue at White Marsh.”
Jacob Wolf, Parent Connector for Dads
“We drive around looking at Christmas lights and play Hanukkah music in the car. For really fun houses, we pin on Google Maps.”
Staci Weber, Hunt Valley/Sparks Parent Connector
“We light the Hanukkah candles each night with different family or friends over Zoom or in person.”
No matter how you choose to celebrate, Chanukah is a time to bring light, joy, and connection into your home. Whether you adopt one of these traditions or have your unique ways of making the holiday fun, we’d love to hear from you! Share your own family’s Chanukah traditions with us, click here to email us.