Chanukah religious service and party, held at the Baltimore "Y" on December 28th, circa 1940. Photograph. I-337.B13.F004.0301 [Digitized]
Hanukkah. Painting. 2004.228 [Digitized]
Hanukkah. Artwork. 1970.003 [Digitized]
Hanukkah greeting card. [Digitized].
Hanukkah lamp. Ritual object. 1987.074 [Digitized]
Hanukkah lamp. Ritual object. 1986.160 [Digitized]
Hanukkah top. Object. 1993.001 [Digitized]
Jewish soldiers at military Hanukkah celebration; World War I; Russia. Photograph. F 3007 [Digitized]
Menorah made out of oranges (and unidentified child). Photograph. F 27268. [Digitized]
Soldiers celebrating Hanukah outside in Korea, 1953. Photograph. I-337 .B10.F005.0098 [Digitized]
Try different spellings and key word searches to get a wider variety of results. Some results may only show up under one spelling: Hanukkah, Chanukah, or Khanike. Different search terms may in include menorah, chanukiah, or Hannukah lamp; dreidel, sevivon, or Hanukkah top.
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Hanukkah is a Jewish festival commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. "Hanukkah" comes from the Hebrew "חנך", meaning "to dedicate." The holiday starts on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev. It is also known as the Festival of Lights, bringing light and warmth into our homes. In the northern hemisphere the festival falls in the winter, when the days are shortest and coldest.
Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, and it is observed by lighting the candles of a candelabrum with nine branches, called a menorah or hanukkiah. One branch is placed above or below the others and its candle is used to light the other eight candles (the shamash). Each night, one additional candle is lit by the shamash until all eight candles are lit together on the final night of the festival.
Hanukkah festivities include playing the game of dreidel and singing songs. In honor of the miracle, it is traditional to eat food fried in oil. Among the most popular options are latkes (potato pancakes), chocolate gelt (coins), and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts). Many celebrations take place in the home, however Hanukkah has become an increasingly public holiday over the last 125 years. Many cities and universities have public menorah lighting events, and some stores offer Hanukkah gift items as the holiday has become commercialized.
Hanukkah in America: A History / Dianne Ashton. Goldstein-Goren Series in American Jewish History. 2013.
A Kosher Christmas: 'tis the Season to Be Jewish / Joshua Eli Plaut ; Foreword by Jonathan D. Sarna. 2012.
The Hanukkah Book / Marilyn Burns; Illustrated by Martha Weston. 1981.
The Hanukkah Anthology / Philip Goodman. 1st ed. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1976.
The Lights of Hanukkah / Barbara Rush. New York: Stewart Tabori & Chang, 2003.
Feast of Lights: Art & Tradition of Hanukkah Lamps / Curated by Anita Plous ; Essay by Joseph Gutmann. Detroit: Janice Charich-Epstein Museum/Gallery, Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit, 1992.
Architecture in the Hanukkah Lamp: Architectural Forms in the Design of Hanukkah Lamps from the Collection of Hanukkah Lamps at the Israel Museum / Jerusalem, Israel: Israel Museum, 1978.
Luminous Art: Hanukkah Menorahs of the Jewish Museum / Susan L. Braunstein. New York: New Haven: Jewish Museum; Yale University Press, 2004.
Living a Jewish Life: Jewish Traditions, Customs, and Values for Today's Families / Anita Diamant with Howard Cooper. Updated and Rev. ed. New York: Collins, 1996.
We have many archival items relating to Hanukkah. The best way to view these items is from a catalog search that can be found HERE.
A collection of advertising material, including Hanukkah related advertisements throughout the collection including mail order forms for Hanukkah candies, Hanukkah gift catalogues, a menorah catalogue, and a menorah shaped box.
National Jewish Welfare Board, Records: Holiday Files, Hanukkah, I-337 subisercsub4
The subseries contains material related to Chanukah, such as bulletins, manuals, postcards, musical scores, memoranda, plays, reports, and program materials.
Collection contains one Hanukkah sermon (final page missing) translated from German by Samuel Lilienthal, M.D., brother of the author, for Congregation B'nai Israel in Augusta, GA. The manuscript contains corrections and printer's notations in a second hand. The sermon was published in The Occident, vol. 4, no. 12 (Mar., 1847).
Hanukah celebration in an apartment in Washington Heights, 1947 [Digitized film, available online]
Footage from a private Hanukah celebration in an apartment in Washington Heights at 100 Bennett Avenue, in 1947. The celebrants are grandmother Emma Haas; her daughter Else and her husband Jack Reinheimer (lighting the candles); their two sons, Steven (5 years old) and Michael (14 months old); as well as the Reinheimers’ friends from the Kahn family; 01:48.
Our Eight Nights of Hanukkah / by Michael J. Rosen ; Illustrated by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan. 1st ed. New York: Holiday House, 2000.
The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story / by Lemony Snicket ; Illustrations by Lisa Brown. 2007.
A Hanukkah Treasury / Edited by Eric A. Kimmel ; Illustrated by Emily Lisker. 1st ed. New York: H. Holt, 1998.
The Borrowed Hanukkah Latkes / Linda Glaser ; Illustrated by Nancy Cote. Morton Grove, Ill.: A. Whitman, 1997.
Eight Winter Nights: A Family Hanukkah Book / by Laura Krauss Melmed ; Illustrated by Elisabeth Schlossberg. 2010.
Meet the Latkes / Alan Silberberg. 2018.
Selling Chanukah was on display in the Center for Jewish History Reading Room in December 2023, highlight the history of Chanukah advertising in the 1950s. The accompanying blog post explores the development of Chanukah advertising from the late 19th Century to the present.