Minhagim of Chanukah
Aside from the bona fide obligations of Chanukah obligations, namely, lighting the menorah and reciting Hallel, a number of special minhagim (customs) are practiced on Chanukah.
These minhagim include:
Women refrain from work while the Chanukah lights are burning.19
Eating dairy foods.
Eating oil-fried foods, such as latkes or doughnuts.
Giving children “Chanukah gelt.”
Playing dreidel.
Question: What is the basis for the custom of women refraining from work?
Discussion: This custom celebrates an aspect of the Chanukah miracle that was brought about specifically by women. There was a decree that any engaged girl must submit to defilement by a Greek officer before being married. When Yehudis, the daughter of Yochanan Kohen Gadol, was to appear before the Greeks for this purpose, she argued that it is only fitting for a woman of her lineage to submit to no one other than the Greek commander. The Greeks acquiesced. When she was with the commander, she fed him cheese to make him drowsy. When he fell asleep she decapitated him, and his army disbanded in disarray. To commemorate the special role of women in this event, it became customary for women to abstain from work at the times that the candles are burning.20
Question: Does this apply to men in any way?
Discussion: No. This minhag applies specifically to women.21 The Poskim note that in some places there was a custom for men to refrain from work as well,22 but this custom does not exist today.23
Question: Which types of work are women to refrain from?
Discussion: Most Poskim hold that this custom follows the rules of Chol Hamoed and Rosh Chodesh.24 Accordingly, laundry and sewing should be avoided.
According to some Poskim, women should also refrain from substantial chores that involve time, effort, or concentration, even if these chores are permitted on Chol Hamoed. Accordingly, even such activities as cooking and washing dishes should not be done.25
Question: Does this mean that if one’s Chanukah lights burn for many hours, the women of the house must refrain from work for all that time?
Discussion: No. The custom is to refrain only for the half hour following the lighting, which is the essential amount of time that the Chanukah lights must be set to burn for.26
Question: If a woman is at work at the time of the candle-lighting, must she stop working during this time?
Discussion: Even a woman who is at work at the time that her husband lights the candles should refrain from working for the half hour following her husband’s lighting. However, if this will cause a financial loss, she may continue working.27
Question: What is the basis of the custom of eating dairy on Chanukah?
Discussion: Rema (670:2) cites a custom of eating cheese on Chanukah. This custom celebrates the incident of Yehudis’s slaying the Greek commander, who had fallen asleep after she fed him cheese (see above, regarding the custom of women refraining from work while the Chanukah candles are burning). To commemorate this event, we make a point of eating cheese on Chanukah.28
Some Poskim write that the dairy food should be eaten specifically at meals held in honor of Chanukah.29 While most Poskim do not mention this, it should presumably be done in a way that has some distinctiveness.
Question: Why do people eat latkes and doughnuts?
Discussion: The custom of eating latkes and doughnuts is not mentioned by Shulchan Aruch or any of the other common Poskim. However, the custom finds its source in the writings of one of the early Rishonim.30 The purpose of this custom is to commemorate the miracle of the oil by eating oil-fried foods.31
Question: Is there a source for the custom of giving children “Chanukah gelt” (“Chanukah money”)?
Discussion: Early Poskim mention a custom of giving money to the poor particularly on Chanukah.32 This evolved into a custom of giving “Chanukah gelt” to one’s children. This development was a pious one: many poor people were embarrassed to collect the money that was
being handed out, and they would send their children to collect the tzedakah in their place. So as not to embarrass the children of the poor, it became customary to hand out money to children in general.33
Some customarily give the Chanukah gelt specifically on the fifth night of Chanukah.34
Question: What is the basis for the custom of playing with a dreidel on Chanukah?
Discussion: A number of explanations for this custom are given. Some explain that when Torah-study was forbidden by the Greeks, the Jews continued learning Torah in hiding. To conceal their activities, they would keep dreidels handy, and if they were discovered by Greek soldiers, they would act as though they were engaged in a game of
dreidel.35 Thus, the game commemorates this aspect of the Chanukah story.
Others suggested that this custom developed in times when the Chanukah candles had to be lit indoors, at which time the pirsumei nissa (publicizing of the miracle) is fulfilled by one’s family seeing the lights. To enhance the pirsumei nissa, it became customary to play dreidel with the children near the Chanukah lights, so as to keep them awake and conscious of the candles.36
Others provide more esoteric explanations, describing the deeper significance of the letters on the dreidel.37 In fact, some great Torah-scholars made a point of playing dreidel themselves during Chanukah.38
Question: Is it permitted to play dreidel to win money or other items?
Discussion: In general, gambling of this nature is forbidden – even among family and friends who do not mind relinquishing small sums of money to each other – unless all of the money is returned after the game.39 Even so, the custom is to be lenient and to allow playing for small sums.40
19 Shulchan Aruch 670:1.
20 This incident actually occurred some years before the miracle of Chanukah. Yet, since this event as well marked a salvation from the Greek oppression of Torah observance, we commemorate it together with the miracle of Chanukah (Ben Ish Chai, Vayeishev 24).
21 Mishnah Berurah 670, note 3; see also ibid., note 10.
22 Ibid.
23 R’ Yosef Shalom Elyashiv (Ashrei Ha’ish III, 33:4).
24 R’ Moshe Feinstein (quoted in Hilchos Chanukah [Rabbi Eider] p. 4); Orchos Rabbeinu III (new edition) p. 124 note 4; Halichos Vehanhagos HaGrish Elyashiv p. 2; Mishnah Halachos XIII:97.
25 Peninei Chanukah, p. 131; Rivevos Ephraim I:436, citing R’ Yisrael Yaakov Fisher’s account of the custom in Jerusalem. Note: even among the Poskim who hold this approach, a number of them say that it applies only when the activity requires substantial involvement, whereas washing a few dishes in an offhanded manner, or a small cooking job such as frying doughnuts or latkes, is permitted (see Halichos Shlomo, Chanukah, 16, fn. 14; Rivevos Ephraim ibid.; see also Kovetz MiBeis Levi, pg. 3, fn. 14).
26 Mishnah Berurah, 670, note 4.
27 As is the case on Chol Hamoed; see Shoneh Halachos, Toras Hamo’adim 670:8:4.
28 Note: While Rema specifies cheese (as does Ran, Shabbos 10a), different Poskim formulate the custom in different ways, with others mentioning a dish made with cheese (Kol Bo 44), yet others mentioning milk (Levush 670:2), and still others mentioning a dish made with milk (Chayei Adam 154:3; Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 139:3). Apparently, the custom is not so specific, and can be fulfilled with any dairy dish.
29 Levush 670:2.
30 Rabbi Maimon, the father of Rambam (Sarid Upalit [Toledano] p. 8).
31 Nitei Gavriel, Chanukah, Chapter 51, note 16.
32 See Magen Avraham, Introduction to 670; Yesod Veshoresh Ha’avodah, Sha’ar Hamifkad, 1.
33 R’ Chaim Kanievsky (Divrei Siach, Vayeshev 5779). Emes LeYaakov (670, note 583) explains that it was customary to give money to teachers of Torah. The money was commonly handed to the children to deliver to their teachers (Chemdas Yamim, Chanukah 3:31). This developed into a custom of giving money to children. See also Chemdas Yamim ibid., noting that there was a particular stress on tending to the support of needy children on Chanukah.
34 Orchos Rabbeinu III, 3. R’ Chaim Kanievsky related that his father (the Steipler) initially said that he does not know the reason for this custom, but subsequently suggested that perhaps it is because the fifth night of Chanukah never occurs on Shabbos.
35 Otzar Minhagei Yeshurun.
36 Siach Sarfei Kodesh quoting Avnei Nezer.
37 See Bnei Yissachar, Chodesh Kislev, 2:25, in the gloss.
38 Minhagei Vehalichos Maran HaChasam Sofer, 21:14; Nitei Gavriel, Chanukah, Chapter 51, note 2.
39 Mishnah Berurah 322, note 23; Noheg Katzon Yosef, p. 188, note 12.
40 Nitei Gavriel, Chanukah 51:3.