It's a Hanukkah Miracle!
This week it's a really easy craft with a ton of back ground. Sorry if it's TLDR
Seasons Greetings,
Cards on the table, I was planning on doing an ornament craft this week but I didn’t like how they came out. I think I am still going to do it, but I was going to have to redo it and think of some new ways of pulling it off. So instead of Xmas, we are going to Hanukkah.
I am Jewish, but I wasn’t going to do a Hanukkah craft, because I felt like it was too ‘niche.’ However, I was talking to a non-Jewish friend of mine and she told me that she wanted a Hanukkiah this year for her holiday display, so maybe it’s not as niche as I thought. So we are going to make some Hanukkiot.
Let’s start with a little history, I want to make sure people know what they are making this week. Hanukkah is not Jewish Christmas. It’s a very minor Jewish Holiday that just happens in the winter. It’s not a super important holiday for the religion but has gained popularity because it usually falls between late November and late December (our calendar is different) and largely American Jews with children wanted to have a winter holiday that they could celebrate. So while almost all jews celebrate it, it’s a bigger deal in America.
All Jewish holidays have traditions that you do to celebrate. Hanukkah has 2 big ones; eat greasy foods like latkes or jelly donuts and light the Hanukiah. At this point you might be saying, “Wait, Rosa, I thought it was called a Menorah?” You aren’t wrong, a menorah is a Jewish ceremonial candle holder. Jews have used menorahs outside of Hanukkah for thousands of years. Usually, they would be used in temples year-round and have 7 candles plus a shamash or helper candle. Hanukkiot have 8 candles plus a helper and are used only for Hanukkah and most people own their own. So while I call these specific ones ‘Hanukkiot’ or ‘Hanukkiahs,’ you can call them menorahs and no one would be confused.
(Most traditional ones look something like this)
One thing I love about Hanukkiot is that there are not a ton of regulations on them. For a lot of Jewish objects, I wouldn’t try to craft them. Instead, I would just wait until someone close to you comes back from Isreal, trust me, they will come back and they will bring you a Jewish object of some sort. But maybe you don’t know the jet setting off to Palestine sort. Or more likely they will bring you back your seventh mezuzah.
While making your own Hanukiah can take many forms, really to make a ‘kosher’ hanukkiah, you only need to hit a couple of requirements:
-there needs to be a total of 9 candles. 1 is the shamash.
-The Shamash needs to be higher than all the others.
- the other candles should be the same height (however, this is honestly not as important and I even kind of don’t do it in one I made. But ideally, you should)
That’s it. It can be made out of anything and you actually even just use candles that aren’t attached to anything if you really want as long as one is higher somehow. One of my mothers still uses one I made in kindergarten out of woodblocks.
So ok, that was a big lead in but let’s get to it. I am going to make honestly, the silliest version of a hanukkiah, with plastic toys. And I am going to do it two ways (though one is not technically kosher, you could make it kosher easily, I just ran out of one material.)
You will need three things for this: either 9 small to medium plastic toys or one big plastic toy, 9 nuts as in nuts and bolts, not the snack kind, and glue (I recommend hot glue). Optional, a piece of wood for a base and spray paint or acrylic paint. I got most of my supplies from the dollar store, but altogether I made two Hanukkiot for about 6 dollars. So this is also a great cost-saving way to decorate for the holiday.
To start you want to plan out where your candles are going. Usually, the shamash is either in the center or all the way to one side. The other candles are usually in a line. Technically, they don’t have to be, but that will give you a more traditional look.
If you are using small toys, I really recommend having a base of some sort. I used a wooden piece, however, you can glue them just to each other as well. Once you have your base, you want to arrange the toys how you want the candles to appear and start to carefully glue them into place.
If your toys are different sizes, use the tallest one for the shamash. If they are all the same, that’s fine, we can add height in the next step.
Once your dinos, in my case, are glued down, you are going to add your nuts. These will serve as your candle holders. You want to buy nuts whose diameter is just slightly smaller than the diameter of your candles. It’s fine to eyeball and candles for menorah’s come in all different sizes anyway. Just don’t make them too small.
Try to glue around the circumference of the nut and not the center. The empty space of the nut is where your candles are going to sit, so you don’t want to fill it up. I added a nut to the top of each dino. Now, because they were different sizes, the lower candles are not all on the same level. What I need to do is get more nuts and attach them to the lower ones to build up the same level, but I ran out of nuts. I need to buy more to make this a really kosher hanukkiah (whoops). You could also put more wood or really even glue under the short ones, but I think adding nuts is actually the easiest. If your shamash isn’t high enough, just add a couple of nuts as well.
But what if you are using one big toy? Well, it’s even easier, you just need to glue the nuts to the body of the toy.
If your toy (like mine) has a natural high point, add the shamash there. If they don’t use the same method of adding bolts to one place on the toy to lift up one of the candles or make the rest on the same level.
Let your glue dry completely. You can now paint your pieces. You don’t have to but I think it makes them look better. You can use acrylic and a brush. This is a great decoration project if you have kids. If you are going for a more millennial-irony-chic, I would use a matte or metallic spray paint. Remember if you are using spray paint, read the instructions and do it outside or in a super well-ventilated place.
I do it on my fire escape.
Let your paint dry and you are ready for candles.
I know these are silly, but I think it’s a great way to teach people about Jewish culture and it feels really light and fun.
Plus, I might actually use my gator one this year.
I know there was a lot of background on this one and you probably don’t need more from me, but I would love to shout out a few ways to give back. Around the holidays, I always push people to direct action. Try to find a local coat drive and clean out that closet. Food banks always need donations. Buy a present for a kid in foster care in your area (I’m doing it in NYC with the Black Womxn’s March.) Money’s tight? Phonebank in Georgia (ok that’s probably not local though.) Or do Thank Banking for health workers (I am doing it with Abortion AF this year). There are so many ways to get involved this year and it’s a great way of giving back no matter what your religion is or what you feel passionate about.
And as always stay safe and stay crafting,
Happy Holidays (Hanukah starts on the 10th)