Every year on Kislev 25 a bright holiday Chanukah comes to our life. Its history dates back to 167 B.C. A cruel monarch, Syrian king Antioh usurped power and decided to destroy Judaism. All Jewish people rebelled and drove Antioh's army out of Israel. Having entered The Temple the rebels cried, because during the years of Antioh's ruling The Temple was profaned - pigs were sacrificed there. They decided to consecrate The Temple and started looking for jars of oil, but since everything was ruined they found only one jar. It took eight days to consecrate The Temple, but the oil was enough only for one day. And then a miracle occurred - the oil burned for eight days.

In memory of that miraculous event Chanukah is celebrated for eight days. Every Jew places a Menorah onto his window and lights candles for eight days. Every day is a candle. And the ninth, the upper candle is called shammosh ("attendant"). It is lit first and then used to light other candles.

On the holiday women use olive oil for cooking. They mainly cook fritters - latkes and doughnuts with jam - sufganiot.

And children play the dreidel game. Dridel is a whipping top with Hebrew letters on each side: Nun, Gimel, Hay, Shin that stand for "Nes godol Haya Sham" ("A great miracle happened there"). Players make wager on what letter will be on the top when the dreidel stops. "Nun" - the player takes no coins, "Hay" - the player takes half the coins, "Shin" - the player puts a coin in, "Gimel" (means "great") - the player takes all the coins. May the light of Hanukah limelight your life during the whole year!

Inna Starodubova (14 years old)