Hanukkah 2024-2025 in Israel

Hanukkah is probably the most popular Jewish holiday celebrated by local communities all over the world. The main idea of the holiday is to show the manifestation of light over the darkness and purity over the adulteration. The most important attribute of the holiday is a nine-branched candelabrum, known as menorah, serving as a source of light. In the course of the celebration, you may take a glimpse of the most important Jewish holiday and taste the very special dishes served only at this time, such as latkes and sufganiyot. Lots of events take place in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Hannukah Customs & Traditions

Throughout the entire run of the holiday, the windows in houses all over Israel light up with the flickering lights of menorahs, the nine-branch candelabrum. Menorahs are also placed in community spaces outside synagogues and near entrances to cities or towns. During Hannukah, Jewish families also play the Dreidel, a spinner; each side of each is inscribed with the letter of the Hebrew alphabet. An interesting fact is that most dreidels in Israel are slightly different from those in the rest of the world. Instead of having the letter "shin," Israeli dreidels have the letter "pe," which stands for the phrase "a great miracle happened here."

Besides games and menorah lightings, Hannukah is a great chance to enjoy traditional, mainly oil-based foods, including latkes, potato pancakes, and sufganiyot, doughnuts with jelly.