According to the laws of Judaism, Hanukkah is one of the less important religious holidays. In Hebrew, the word “Hanukkah” means “dedication,” and during this holiday, Jews around the world celebrate the re-dedication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Greeks a very long time ago (165 B.C.E.). Although this is an important time in history for the Jewish people, there is not as much religious emphasis placed on this holiday as there is on Passover or Rosh Hashanah.

Because Hanukkah falls close to Christmas each year, it has become popular in the United States for modern day Jews to celebrate and mark the holiday with gift giving. Today’s Jewish children receive gifts for Hanukkah – often one gift for each of the eight nights of the holiday – and they have come to expect this as the norm (at least in my house). I’m not talking about traditional Jewish gifts but the “regular,” secular kind – just like their Christmas-celebrating friends at school.

Reaching out to the Community
While gift-GETTING is very important to any child under the age of ten, this year we’ve decided to turn the tables and teach our kids the meaning of gift GIVING. On the last night of Hanukkah, instead of GETTING a gift, they each will wrap a holiday gift they’ve chosen for a less-fortunate youth in the Bellefaire Jewish Children’s Bureau 2010 Holiday Gift Giving Program.

Bellefaire JCB serves children, families and young adults throughout Northeast Ohio and across the United States through its residential and autism treatment programs. Through this Holiday Program, Bellefaire tries to make the holiday season very special for the children in their care.

• Each child provides a “wish list” and friends in the community are invited to help ensure that each child receives one of his or her wishes.
• This holiday season, Bellefaire will receive wish lists from more than 2,300 at-risk and vulnerable children and teenagers in many of their specialized programs.
• For many of these children, Bellefaire’s Holiday Program provides them with their only new gift of the season.

Giving to Others
We went to Bellefaire and selected wish lists from two of the kids who are similar to our kids in ages. We chose Antonia, an 8-year old female, who asked for a gift card or coloring set on her wish list, and Keani, a young boy, who wants either a skateboard or football.

We went shopping and selected these special gifts for the Bellefaire kids in need. In an effort to start a new holiday tradition, we will wrap them on the last night of Hanukkah.  Not only are my kids excited about the idea of giving to a child in need, they are also learning the important Jewish tradition of Mitzvah, an act of human kindness. It is through this selfless act that they are also learning to GIVE during a traditional time of RECEIVING.