My DS, age 11, Shalom picked Hanukkah as his monthly report topic. I thought it was an appropriate subject to share with others here as it is Hanukkah time AND it's a homeschooling report. :) I have corrected his rough draft (for spelling, incorrect information, etc) but have not yet looked at his final report. I'm going to read it after I post it. Why, you might ask? Well it is part of an effort to share what his work really looks like as well as an effort to share with others who have kids about that age what kind of work another kid is doing. This is the boy that has just started to really read in the last few months (see previous post about his newly discovered joy of reading). Another reason I posted this is because he wrote with the desire to share it with others. He changed Y'shua to Jesus and Torah to Bible so that others will understand it better. He has given me permission to post his report and has asked that if others have comments to please make them (he likes feedback and constructive criticism as much as I do).

Shalom's Hanukkah Report

Have you ever wondered what Hanukkah is? Hanukkah is the festival of dedication. It dates back to 165 years before the Messiah was born. Hanukkah is a fun holiday to celebrate with games, treats and gifts. I think that all believers should celebrate Hanukkah because its meaning.

The Greek king of the Selucid Empire, named Antiochus, made it illegal to worship God. Antiochus decided that he was god. The Jews that would not compromise got tortoured and killed. Antiochus made it illegal to obey God's commandments. The Greeks went into the temple and stole the menorah, the table of shew bread, the alter of incence and everything that was made of silver or gold. A Greek officer tried to get a priest named Mattathias to eat unclean meat sacrificed to a pagan god. Mattathias refused but another man came up and said ''I will''. Mattathias stuck a sword through the Greek officer and the other man. Most people assume that when Mattathias did this he was in his 80's. After this happened, war broke out between Antiochous's men (or the Greeks) and a small group of Jewish fighters. The war lasted three years. Mattathias was killed during the war and Judah, his third son, took over the little band of fighters. The Greeks brought out their war elephants, something the Jews had never seen before. It was probably very terrifying to see the elephants. Simon, Mattathias's son, died after killing a war elephant when it fell on him and crushed him. After three years the Greeks gave up because God was fighting for the Jews. Mattathias, Judah, and his two brothers became known as the Maccabees, which means Hammerer, because of there motivation to protect there faith. After the war Mattathia's sons and other priests went to the temple to restore it. They cleaned it all up and rededicated it to God. The rededication of the temple lasted for eaght days. It was a great celebration and that is where Hanukkah came from.

There are good reasons to celebrate Hanukkah. the Bible says Jesus celebrated Hanukkah where we find ''at the time of the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem (in the winter) Jesus went to the temple of Solomon" in John 10:22-23. The only time Jesus went to Jerusalem is at the festivals, so it must of been inportant to him. Jesus refers to him self as the light of the world in John 8:12 and Hanukkah is called the festival of lights today. The light is a simble of Gods righteousness so if Jesus is the light of the world then he is like our candel on our Hanukkiah. If there is one candle in a very dark place it is very bright, it shows you where to go. so let the light of Jesus shine thru you to evrybody. There is some very good oportunities to learn about Jesus at Hanukkah.

There are a lot of ways and traditions to celebrate Hanukkah take dreidels for instance. A dreidel is a four sided top with the Hebrew letters; nun, gimmel, hay and shin. The leters mean, a great miracle happened there. To play you have to have money or chocolate and a dreidel. Each player gets ten pices of money or chocolate the rest of the money or chocolate goes into a pot. First you spin the dradle and if it lands on nun you get none of the pot if it lands on gimmel, congratulations you get all the chocolate in the pot! If it lands on hay you get half the pot, if it lands on shin you have to put four chocolates or money in. We play dreidle becuse the when the Greeks came, the Jews had to hide the bible and pretend they wer playing dreidel. During Hanukkah you get lots of treats like; jelly donuts, candy and potato pancakes or latkes. Tradition says that the Jewish women fried latkes and handed them to the Jewish solders when they passed by. Making latkes is simple, all you have to do is grate potatoes and then fry them in oil. Latkes are a very tasty treat. Another tradition is lighting a Hanukkiah. The Hanukkah is a Menorah with two extra branches for a toltel of nine branches. We light one candle every night of Hanukkah.

Hanukkah is a holiday that is a good learning experience and a way to get a closer relationship with God by understanding more about Jesus. So next Hanukkah I hope that you will be able to cellebrate it and have a lot of fun.

Posted by Anonymous

I'm impressed!!! Your son did a GREAT job on his report. We're teaching our 6 year old about Hanukkah. We have celebrated it for about 4 years, but he was so young, he didn't understand most of it. And since we are not traditional Jews, he had trouble understanding how Yeshua and Santa fit in with it....oh well. We're trying. Luke now looks forward to Hanukkah each year, but mostly for the lights and he got a driedle this year...so I don't know that there's alot of understanding of the event itself. We're now learning the blessings in Hebrew (not easy for old folks!!!!)and trying to be as close to authentic as we can. Your son's report gives me hope that Luke IS learning more than he's willing to share with us. Thank you for sharing your son's report and encouraging me at the same time. Happy Hanukkah to you and yours and we'll pray Hashem will protect you in the storms. Shalom, Spitfire

Posted by Anonymous

Tell Shalom that he did an excellent job. His sentence structure and the whole flow of his information is really good! I just read it to my kids and we all learned a lot about Hanukkah.



--Jeannine

Posted by Anonymous

Wow, you did a great job!!!!! I'm very proud of you. Keep up the good work.

Ms. Brandi