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Hanukkah

Hanukkah

Date: Dec 16 2020

Themes: Holidays, Party

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Did you notice your heating bill to be surprisingly low this month, or that your got exceptionally good mileage? Perhaps you experienced a small recreation of the miracle of Hanukkah.

When the Jews reclaimed the Temple of Jerusalem from the Syrians in the second century, they had enough oil to light the menorah, which was supposed to burn all night, every night, to keep it lit for one day. Yet, somehow, it burned for eight nights, which was how long it took to get more oil. A miracle!

The Jews celebrate this miracle with an eight-day holiday every winter during which one candle is lit on a menorah for each day of the celebration. In the 20th Century, North American Jews started exchanging presents to make Hanukkah a Jewish alternative to the Christmas gift-giving. Listen to Mason tell Devan about his Hanukkah.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Devan

Devan

Mason

Mason

Devan:  So how was Hanukkah?

Mason:  It was pretty good! You know it came really early this year so uh…

Devan:  Is it different every year?

Mason:  Yeah, the Jewish calendar kind of shifts around so sometimes it starts like the 4th of December which I think is when it started this year, and sometimes it starts like on Christmas Day.

Devan:  Weird. I didn’t know that. So it’s eight days, right?

Mason:  Eight straight.

Devan:  I learned that from the Adam Sandler song.

Mason:  Most people did. There’s a love-hate relationship with that song for most of the Jews, I think, because it gave Hanukkah a pretty good public profile, put us out there.

Devan:  So what did you do? Did you spin a dreidel and light some candles?

Mason:  I did the menorah every night, that’s the candle holder, but I didn’t play any dreidel. It just totally snuck up on me. That’s kind of the problem with these roving holidays.

Devan:  And what do you do? Do you give presents like Christmas?

Mason:  I was actually talking with some friends about this. I was raised, my parents don’t get in a present frenzy. They got my sister and I presents but there was never a “I have to get everyone in the family presents.” The Christmastime shopping blitz that everyone goes on makes no sense to me.

Devan:  Oh, that’s interesting. Do you celebrate Christmas too or just Hanukkah?

Mason:  No. I hate those people who do both.

Devan:  Yeah.

Mason:  Pick one. Stand strong.

Devan:  But then you get double the celebration, double the fun.

Mason:  Eh.

 

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Discussion

Hanukkah was particularly early this year, so Mason didn’t have a lot of time to prepare. He didn’t play any dreidel, a game with a top that children play during Hanukkah, because he wasn’t very prepared for the holiday this year.

Mason’s immediate family exchanges gifts for Hanukkah, but he doesn’t exchange gifts with his extended family or his friends. The amount of Christmas shopping a lot of people do seems strange to him.

Most of what Devan knows about Hanukkah comes from a song by comedian Adam Sandler about the holiday. Mason says Jews tend to both like and dislike the song since it helped make Hanukkah more popular but also sort of makes fun of it.

Devan asks Mason if he celebrates Christmas also, and he says he thinks people ought to choose one holiday or the other.

Most cultures have a winter holiday. Did you celebrate a holiday this winter? Which do you think is better, a one-day, intense holiday like Christmas, or an eight-day, low-key holiday like Hanukkah?

 

Comments

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lamiaa fahmi

Egypt

nice celebrationc

03:23 PM Dec 28 2007 |

mitikutesh

Ethiopia

hello

02:31 PM Dec 28 2007 |

Ireane Jia

China

sounds wonderful

10:54 AM Dec 28 2007 |

kaushalyats

Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka our biggest celebration is in April. Sinhalese and tamils in Sri lanka believs that first month of the year is April and we celebrate
'New year" in April. We celebrate new year three days straight and we use to exchange gifts and food not only with family members but relations,friends and neighbours. We use to sing and play our cultural games which are typical to Sri Lankans.

10:11 AM Dec 28 2007 |

kaushalyats

Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka our biggest celebration is in April. Sinhalese and tamils in Sri lanka believs that first month of the year is April and we celebrate
‘New year” in April. We celebrate new year three days straight and we use to exchange gifts and food not only with family members but relations,friends and neighbours. We use to sing and play our cultural games which are typical to Sri Lankans.

10:09 AM Dec 28 2007 |

xiaoxuxuyi

xiaoxuxuyi

China

FrownWhy

09:28 AM Dec 28 2007 |

Raingirl

Iraq

Hi everyone paying a visit to this outstandig place .Hope all of us learn many things together I will be much more grateful if you want to share english information. And the celebration it is nice we can have such things among us too . Love everyone

08:46 AM Dec 28 2007 |

iv4ix

iv4ix

Latvia

Thank   you  Smile    now i know what is Hanukkah.

08:14 AM Dec 28 2007 |

sd194582

sd194582

China

i know so little about it that i can't understand well~ in china,news years day we would have eight day to rest~

08:07 AM Dec 28 2007 |

mom-of-2

mom-of-2

China

I like this lesson too. There are different cultures and religions. It's good to know from each other. I perticularly like Mason's attitude when he said to pick one and stand strong. He shew his love to his tradition and didn't offend others' also. It may be from the life experience in a diversified culture.

07:32 AM Dec 28 2007 |

didars

Tanzania, United Republic Of

Hi!
Hannukah i wish you all the best on 2008

07:27 AM Dec 28 2007 |

mom-of-2

mom-of-2

China

It is interesting to know different cultures.

07:22 AM Dec 28 2007 |

abdeeq

abdeeq

Somalia

Great

06:57 AM Dec 28 2007 |

chotki

India

uiuy

06:47 AM Dec 28 2007 |

jiangxiaoqin

China

    I know nothing about it before. But now i have learn about it. I believe that i will learn many things there.I am very happy i can join in. It is wize for me to become a member of it.

06:38 AM Dec 28 2007 |

pingbing

pingbing

China

yes ,I like too !

06:05 AM Dec 28 2007 |

pingbing

pingbing

China

yes ,I like too !

06:05 AM Dec 28 2007 |

navidad

navidad

Viet Nam

cool!

02:59 AM Dec 28 2007 |

therine524

China

I like it

02:55 AM Dec 28 2007 |

fanggy

fanggy

China

Where there is will, there is a way!

02:33 AM Dec 28 2007 |

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