Students at Amador celebrate Hanukkah with family and friends, eat different types of foods like Latkes and Matzo Ball soup, light the menorah, and play games like Dreidel. 

Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish festival that celebrates the rededication of the second temple of Jerusalem. One way they celebrate is by lighting candles on each day of the festival.

“I celebrate Hanukkah by lighting candles all eight nights and saying a prayer. A big part of Jewish holidays is remembering the biblical stories and the traditions and what it means.” Abigail Kops (‘23).

Students at Amador love to spend this time with loved ones. They get to see members of their family who they haven’t seen in a while and create great memories.

“I am looking forward to seeing my family members who I haven’t seen in a long time,” said Nathan Marek ‘26.

Students like Nathan love to make Latkes with family members, which is a potato pancake. He also plays Dreidel, which is a game where each player spins the Dreidel. 

“My family and I always make Latkes together and we play Dreidel every single night,” said Marek.

The Dreidel is a four-sided toy that has a Jewish letter on each side. Each letter has a different meaning and tells the player to either give, take all, take half, or do nothing with the pot. 

For many children, the highlight of the holiday is the gifts. It differs for every family but most families do give gifts during Hanukkah. They generally give these gifts as a way to bring joy around the time of Hanukkah.

“I am most excited for Hanukkah to get presents,” said Grace Pitluck ‘24.

Often, families will give one gift every night of Hanukkah. This means eight gifts in total.

Latkes aren’t the only food eaten during Hanukkah. They also enjoy Sufganiyahs. These are round jelly donuts, filled with jam or custard, and topped with powdered sugar.

“Specific holiday foods are latkes which are like potatoes, kind of like hash browns and jelly donuts,” said Kops. 

 The students at Amador love this holiday mainly because they get to spend it with family members. Additionally, they get to play games like Dreidel and eat different types of food.