What to Teach about Chanukah?
Source: Sefaria
Sefaria is filled with resources to help you teach and celebrate Chanukah. Here are a few of our favorite source sheets and relevant texts from the library. Sefaria encourages you to add your teaching materials to Sefaria, make them public, and tag them for others to enjoy.
Chanukah celebrates the victory of light over darkness, in so many ways. Some educators draw on the famous story of the first human being confronting the darkness of winter, and responding by kindling lights. Others frame the conversation around the famous debate between Hillel and Shammai — should the number of flames increase or decrease over the course of the holiday?
Sheets like Be Your Own Shamash, may be useful to you if you focus on the issue of light.
Miracles are another popular theme — from the Talmud which details the miracle of Chanukah to the legal source that hints at a different miraculous story in which Judith is the heroine. Asking what miracle we celebrate, and what truly constitutes a miracle, helps students think beyond the most familiar narrative and explore multiple perspectives.
Check out Will the Real Miracle Please Stand Up? to study the miracle of Chanukah more deeply.