KrigorStudio Staff Share Some of Their Hanukkah Traditions

We have a very diverse staff at KrigorStudio and are grateful that they are willing to give us an intimate look into their personal and family lives as it surrounds this important December holiday. We interviewed our staff members, Line Haddad (Choreography Lab) and Serge Onik (Dance!/Reggaeton), and we give you a little bit of background into the Jewish “Festival of Lights” in the hopes of brightening your day! (See what I did there?)

But First, A Little History: What is Hanukkah and when does it start in 2020?

Hanukkah is the Jewish holiday otherwise known as the "Festival of Lights." The holiday is observed over eight days and is celebrated with a nightly lighting of the menorah, as well as fried foods and prayer. This year, the holiday starts at sunset on December 10th.

Hanukkah commemorates the Maccabean Revolt in 164 B.C., when a small army of Jewish fighters called Maccabees, led by Judah Maccabee, defeated their Greek-Syrian oppressors and rededicated the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

Why is Hanukkah celebrated for Eight Nights?

When the Maccabees were able to gain control of the temple, they needed to cleanse it, rebuild its altar and light the menorah — but they only had one night's worth of oil to light it with. Miraculously, the candles burned for eight nights!

Am I spelling it wrong?

There are actually 16 different ways to spell the name of the holiday! The most popular are Hanukkah and Chanukah, but the truth is that it's very difficult to translate a word directly from Hebrew, so multiple spellings are accepted.

On to Tradtions and Celebrations! What are some typical holiday traditions?

The most recognizable of the Hanukkah traditions is the nightly lighting of a special menorah called the hanukkiah, which has nine branches — eight for lighting and one shamash, or "helper" candle that lights the others. While people light their hanukkiahs, they generally recite a blessing.

We asked Line Haddad, French National Pairs Champion and the youngest person to ever compete at the Olympics (and KrigorStudio staff member!), what her favorite holiday traditions were and the lighting was the first thing that she mentioned. "Lighting the candles with friends and family, and bringing lights and warmth to the world. And the donuts, of course!"

Donuts?! What Donuts?! - The Sufganiyot!

I know what you're thinking: "I don't need a holiday to have an excuse to eat fried food" — but this is different. On Hanukkah, the traditional foods like potato latkes and sufganiyot (which are a type of jelly doughnut) are fried in oil as a nod to the oil that miraculously lasted eight nights.

The doughnut is deep-fried in oil, filled with jam or custard, and then topped with powdered sugar. The recipe originated in Europe in the 1500s and throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the tradition of jelly donuts traveled with Polish Jews wherever they immigrated.

In Israel…ponchiks soon took the name sufganiyah (sufganiyot plural), from a “spongy dough”mentioned in the Talmud, sofgan and sfogga. The word sphog, meaning “sponge,” is so ancient that there is a question as to whether it was initially of Semitic or Indo-European origin.

Sufganiyot became specifically tied to Hanukkah in Israel, in the 1920s, when the Israeli Labor Federation declared them the official food of Hanukkah. What do jelly donuts have to do with labor, you ask? While latkes are easy to make at home, sufganiyot provided Israelis with jobs — think of all the baking, transporting, and merchandising behind every box of donuts!

The flickering candles won't be the only things shining on the table

Many families celebrate with gelt, chocolate coins covered in gold and silver foil, including Line Haddad's family. It may not be the softest or most buttery chocolate but Line still has a sentimental attachment to the waxy coins. Because, well, it's Hanukkah, and "holidays and gatherings where you see your family and your friends - creating traditions together."

Hanukkah gelt was once real gold coins and there are many theories as to how this started. One theory that resounds with me is that parents would send their children to school with these coins to show their appreciation for their teachers - it sure beats the Starbucks card that I used to gift Line!

Eight Nights of Gifts

Eight days and nights of celebrating the festival of lights doesn't just mean latkes and revelry—it also calls for eight rounds of gifts to celebrate Hanukkah with your loved ones. We asked Serge Onik, Ballroom National Champion and Top 10 World Finalist (catch his class on Wednesdays at 5pm EST!), what his favorite part of Hanukkah is and he mentioned the gift exchange. “Growing up as a Ukrainian Jew, we didn’t know much of the traditions and rules of our ancestors or the culture but, for Hanukkah, every year we got together as a family to light the candles and exchange presents – it was about sharing joy with each other and, for a while, it was my biggest connection to the faith.”

“Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel," but do you know why it's played?

The dreidel itself is symbolic, with four sides with the letters nun, gimmel, hey and shin from the Hebrew alphabet. Those letters stand for "nes gadol haya sham," which can be translated to "a great miracle happened there." Dreidel is played because it is said that, because Jewish people were outlawed from practicing their religion and studying Torah, they would use their dreidel to pretend that they were playing games.

Hanukkah may look a little different this year, but you can still celebrate!

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to impact people around the world, the holiday season is already looking very different from years past. The CDC recommends that any get-togethers with people outside of your household be held virtually, and urges people not to travel as it increases the spread of the virus. This is a great time to spend with those closest to you, exploring old traditions and maybe even making some new ones – like taking a KrigorStudio class together!

Happy Hanukkah!

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