hanukah

8 Hanukah Traditions + Bonus Goodies

that you might not know about

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg

Dec 11, 2025 • 9 min read

Reddish Studio, Idan Friedman, Hanukkah Lamp, 2002. (Box with nine holes on top, with candlesticks of various sizes positioned so that they all line up on top but not on the bottom, which incidentally makes it a kosher menorah, since all the candles have to be the same height (though the shamash, the helper candle, can be higher or lower) to be kosher according to Jewish law. If you don't care about that sort of thing, do you.)

Grateful, as always, for you and your support: Thank you. ❤️

Almost-Hanukah sameach!! The first night of Hanukah begins Sunday night! And Advent blessings to all of you celebrating!

I thought it could be fun to share eight (okayyy: ten) groovy (and lesser-known) Hanukah traditions and treats; the Jewish people are expansive and global, and there are so many faces to everything we do.

1) There's a tradition of the Sephardic Jews (the descendants of those expelled from Spain in 1492) who settled in Aleppo to light an additional shamash (helper candle, the one that lights all the other ones) on Hanukah as a sign of gratitude.

(Lighting an additional shamash could be a practice of solidarity with refugees worldwide, honoring their search for shelter and peace.)

2) Here's a probably-new-to-you banger by Albert Rouimi, the Jewish Algerian musician who went by Blond Blond, a reference to his Albinism. Blond Blond was born in Algeria in 1919, spent some years back and forth between Algeria and Paris in the 30s and 40s (avoiding the Vichy years), and pioneered the Francarabe style, a mixture of French chansons and Arabic chaabi. As in other songs, he switches between languages and styles seamlessly. As I understand it, there are a lot of puns and wordplays here– maybe one of you can help?

Here's "El Bonco – Hannouka":