Here's to a happy Hannukah!

Traditions aplenty and the warmth of family; these define the traditional Jewish holiday

A Bene Israel Jewish family enjoys jelly doughnuts after lighting the traditional candelabrum (picture by Santosh Mishra)

As the sun sets, Jewish families gather around the nine-branched hanukkiah, ushering in Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish holiday. Yosef Nowgaonkar, a resident of Koregaon Park in Pune, India, invites us to his humble home to partake in the observance. As he sings the traditional blessings along with his wife Joycee and son Amir, his daughter Michelle lights the first candle mounted on the candelabrum. With this, the celebrations begin.

Joycee says, “We sing a special blessing on the first day of Hanukkah. It’s usually sung when you begin a new endeavour.” Of all the prayers they recite, the family admits to knowing the Hanukkah blessing by heart. “It has a rhythm that stays with you. It’s hard to forget it, really,” Yosef quips.

According to Yosef, who is also honorary secretary of the Rasta Peth Succath Shelomo Synagogue in Pune, 'Hanukkah' means 'dedication'. It refers to the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in second century BCE, after the Jews reclaimed it from their Seleucid oppressors. When they went to light the temple menorah (a seven-branched candelabrum), there was only one cruse of olive oil. They lit the menorah, and miraculously, the one-day supply of oil lasted for eight days. Commemorating this miracle of faith, Hanukkah is hence celebrated for eight days.

Traditionally, oil lamps are lit, but many Jewish homes also light candles. However, through the sharing of each other's hanukkiah pictures on her WhatsApp group chats, Leora Micah Joseph, a member of the Mumbai Jewish community in India, discovered that many families still own oil lamp stands and follow the lighting-with-oil tradition to date. "Some of these have been passed down generations, and are old, made of wood, brass or a combination of both," she says. At Yosef’s place, there’s a rustic one, mounted on a frame fashioned like the Star of David. There are two others that his mother sourced from Isreal and another one that's as traditional as it can look, something Joycee chanced upon while shopping.

"I grew up in a large Bene Israel Jewish community in Bombay, India. During Hanukkah, we’d have a hectic schedule, going to each other’s houses to light the hanukkiah. Fighting over who would light it on the last day was part of the custom!" ~ Joycee Nowgaonkar

Time to indulge in latkes and sufganiyot

While there are several delectable preparations associated with the holiday, it is customary to have something sweet after lighting the hanukkiah. It's also considered a must to have something deep-fried, in remembrance of the miracle of oil.

For our feast, Joycee baked plump, perfectly-round sufganiyot (doughnuts usually filled with jelly or custard) and fried latkes (pancakes of potatoes, onion, corn flour, and eggs). “These are Hanukkah traditionals, but besides that, we also prepare dahi wada (an Indian dish comprising friend flour balls in yogurt). It’s the Nowgaonkar way of having something oily and sweet!” says Joycee, as she forces us to indulge in another sufganiyah. The dahi wada sharing the table with the Hanukkah traditionals speaks of how the (largely Marathi-speaking) Bene Isreal Jewish community feels so much at home in India. In fact, they are also known as Maharashtrian Jews.

According to Leora, the Bene Israel settled in the Konkan region of India after being shipwrecked off the coast. So, their cuisine has influences of Maharashtrian and Konkan culinary styles. It’s little wonder then that they prepare sweets like karanji (sweet dumplings) and sandan (sweet coconut steamed cakes) for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year in September.

However, Shalom Cohen, who belongs to one of the only two Baghdadi Jewish families living in Pune, associates most Jewish holidays with kaka bawas (a Persian Jewish delicacy), that his mother would prepare. "My sister and I would wait for the holidays, when our mum would make these date-filled cookies. They create a very nostalgic association with Hanukkah," reminisces Shalom, who is now based in California.

The hanukkiah holds nine flames; one, the shamash (attendant), to kindle the other eight. On the first night, we light one flame. On the second night, an additional flame is lit. By the eighth night, all eight lights are kindled.

How the community celebrates

During the holiday, Hanukkah parties are common at the synagogue. Leora has fond memories of attending such parties at the synagogue when she'd go to spend her winter vacations in the Indian city of Ahmedabad. "The local community would participate in the hanukkiah lighting, amidst prayers and special songs. This would be followed by fellowship, merriment and gift-giving to the children," she recalls. In Pune too, the 96-year-old Succath Shelomo Synagogue and the Ohel David Synagogue on Moledina Road see similar celebrations every year.

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This article was written for and published in the Times of India.

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