Children are eating milk and bread, I'm typing

[conuly]

Most of the questions on my poll were opinion questions. If you're curious, though, fairly reputable sources* tell me that

1. Hanukkah is not mentioned in Torah, just in Talmud
2. Hanukkah is not a theologically important holiday, though if your definition of "important" means "my family will kill me if I don't celebrate", go right on ahead
3. Jews are only religiously *expected* to light a candle for half an hour after sundown and pray - other customs are no doubt important to the people who practice them, but not required, though, again, your definition of "supposed to" may vary
4. While people probably *did* play some variation of dreidl/teetotum 2000 years ago, it didn't get added onto Hanukkah customs until much more recently, after it'd been part of local Christmas customs. I do believe that all symbolic significance of the letters on the dreidl are a more recent innovation
5. Hanukkah is *usually* in December, but it is *always* in Kislev :) That, of course, would be more of a trick question if you all didn't recognize that Kislev is not a month on the Christian calendar.
6. Pork chops and sour cream together is, like, doubly unkosher and probably not suitable for Hanukkah. But it sure is yummy!

*_{Okay, so one of them was Wikipedia, but what Wiki said was backed up by what I've read elsewhere, okay? Naturally, I accept commentary, criticism, corrections, compliments and cookies by actual Jewish people!}

Comments

[l33tminion]

I do believe that all symbolic significance of the letters on the dreidl are a more recent innovation

That's correct, it's a backronym. The letters (transliterated) and rules come from a modern (relatively, way after Hanukkah was first celebrated) German gambling game using a four-sided top. The explanation for why the rules make sense in light of the Hebrew letters also came later.

[conuly]

Thank you.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

i had been reading up on Chanukah the other day so i knew when to send the gift for my friend. your dreidel question did not have the answer i wanted. i can't think of a game like it that has anything to do with Christmas, and I didn't think it had been played for 2000 years, and I'm not Jewish so I couldn't pick those questions either... i sipped other questions because i didn't like the choices. ah well, it was still a good quiz.

[conuly]

Teetotum! It's no longer customarily played at Christmastime, but it used to be. That's the real reason behind the entire post, as a lead-in to the link on teetotum.

[l33tminion]

I do believe that all symbolic significance of the letters on the dreidl are a more recent innovation

That's correct, it's a backronym. The letters (transliterated) and rules come from a modern (relatively, way after Hanukkah was first celebrated) German gambling game using a four-sided top. The explanation for why the rules make sense in light of the Hebrew letters also came later.

[conuly]

Thank you.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

i had been reading up on Chanukah the other day so i knew when to send the gift for my friend. your dreidel question did not have the answer i wanted. i can't think of a game like it that has anything to do with Christmas, and I didn't think it had been played for 2000 years, and I'm not Jewish so I couldn't pick those questions either... i sipped other questions because i didn't like the choices. ah well, it was still a good quiz.

[conuly]

Teetotum! It's no longer customarily played at Christmastime, but it used to be. That's the real reason behind the entire post, as a lead-in to the link on teetotum.