Hannukah means donuts!

Hannukah means donuts!

  • 12/20/2011
    •    
    ​
    Doughy donuts symbolize the miracle of the jug of oil that lasted for eight days in the rededicated Temple.
  • icon_zoom.png
    Hannukah means donuts Hannukah means donuts
     
     

    ​"In Israel, the traditional way of celebrating Hannukah is eating donuts," says Kobi Hakak, owner of Roladin Bakery & Café. "It is a very, very tasty product; very special, and you see it only once a year."

     
    An estimated 24 million filled donuts - "sufganiyot" in Hebrew - are sold in Israel starting a couple of months before Hannukah, adding up to $13 million (and 450 calories each). The deep-fried treats symbolize the miracle of the small cruse of olive oil that lasted eight days in the rededicated Temple menorah in 165 BCE. Hakak says the favorite variety is a pistachio ganache, "and also the pavlova and the vodka espresso this year."

     

      

     

     
  •  
  •  
  •  
    ​
     
     
    Hannukah commemorates the triumph of the Jews, under the Maccabees, over the Greek rulers (164 BCE) - both the physical victory of the small Jewish nation against mighty Greece and the spiritual victory of the Jewish faith against the Hellenism of the Greeks. Its sanctity derives from this spiritual aspect of the victory, and the miracle of the flask of oil, when a portion of sacramental olive oil meant to keep the Temple candelabrum lit for one day lasted for eight days, the time it took for the Temple to be rededicated. Hannukah is observed in Israel, as in the Diaspora, for eight days. The central feature of this holiday is the lighting of candles each evening - one on the first night, two on the second, and so on - in commemoration of the miracle at the Temple.