Treats Teach Traditions

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — The Festival of Lights has begun, and tradition burns bright in the Jewish community.

Parents can start a new family tradition with edible Hanukkah crafts.

Hanukkah commemorates the triumph of the Jews over the Syrian Greeks in 164 BCE, according to the My Jewish Learning website. The holiday, which is celebrated from sunset Dec. 20 through sunset Dec. 28 this year, typically features fried foods such as latkes, or fried potato pancakes, and jelly doughnuts called sufganiyot, according to the website.

Kids may not want to help out in thekitchen with those incentives, though, so to get the kids involved, try making a craft they can eat after they’re done creating.

One option is an edible dreidel.

The dreidel, a spinning top that is a custom of Hanukkah, features four Hebrew letters: nun, gimmel, hey and shin. The letters stand for the saying “Nes gadol haya sham,” which means “A great miracle occurred there,” according to the My Jewish Learning website.

The dreidel game originally had nothing to do with Hanukkah, though, and has been played in various languages by various people for centuries, according to the website. It is a custom to play dreidel on Hanukkah based on a legend that during the time of the Hanukkah story, when Jewish children were forbidden to study the Torah, they would disobey this command and study.

If a Greek official drew near, they would hide their studies, set out spinning tops and say they were playing games.

Lyrics in the song associated with dreidels may say “dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay,” but an edible dreidel made with a marshmallow, chocolate kiss and icing probably tastes a lot better.

Young kids can use these dreidels to learn how to play the dreidel game before eating the sweet treat.

Directions for how to play the dreidel game can be found at myjewishlearning.com.

Another holiday tradition involves lighting the menorah for eight days.

When the Jews took part in the rededication of the Second Temple, they found enough oil to light the candles on the menorah for one day, but the candles kept burning for eight days, according to The History Channel website.

On each of the eight nights of Hanukkah, a candle is added to the nine-branched menorah and lighted with the centercandle, which is called the shamas.

Children learning about this tradition can make their own menorah using candy and pretend to light candles by attaching candy corn or jelly beans to make the fl ames.

These crafts are quick and easy to make and could be a fun activity for kids and parents to enjoy together.

Edible Dreidels

Marshmallows

Chocolate kisses

Thin pretzel sticks

Icing

Optional: mini M&Ms, sprinkles, edible markers

Unwrap chocolate kisses.

Use icing to “glue” the marshmallow on top of the chocolate kiss.

Stick a pretzel stick through the top of the marshmallow.

Decorate the body of the marshmallow with mini M&Ms or sprinkles - use the icing as “glue.” You can even use icing or edible markers to write a nun, shin, gimmel, and hey on each side of the marshmallow.

-- EATS.MACARONIKID.COM

Sweet Edible Menorah

Chocolate bar

Frosting

Tootsie Rolls

Candy corn or orange and yellow jelly beans

Place nine small gobs of frosting across a bar of chocolate.

Place a small Tootsie Roll on each gob of frosting.

Add a gob of frosting to the top of each Tootsie Roll.

Put a piece of candy corn or jelly bean on each one.

-- ADAPTED FROM A RECIPE ON WWW.THEIDEABOX.COM