Sunday night marked the eighth and final night of lighting the menorah – the main celebration of Hanukkah.
“Hanukkah represents this idea of light in the darkness. And the theme of Hanukkah, like as it is with the battle of the Maccabees, as it is with finding that one cruse of olive oil is that size doesn't matter, numbers don't matter,” Rabbi Raphael Kats, of the Chabad Jewish Centre in Saskatoon, said.
According to Kats, the origins of Hanukkah were the first recorded struggle for religious freedom. He says the message of the holiday is about not giving up your identity.
“If you stand for truth, if you stand for light, you don't curse away the darkness, you don't chase away darkness with a broomstick – all you have to do is light a candle.”
The lighting of the menorah represents the miracle of a single cruse of oil lasting for eight nights. Other celebrations include eating latkes, or fried potato pancakes, and fried jelly doughnuts, playing dreidel, and giving the kids something called ‘Hanukkah gelt.’
“We give (the children) money for each night of Hanukkah, and that’s to teach them to give charity and to channel material wealth into spiritual ends,” Kats said.
