Hanukkah gelt. Those two words always made me jump for joy. As a child growing up in a semi-traditional Jewish household, Hanukkah was always my favorite time of year. For eight nights, my father would bring home a bag of chocolate coins with gold foil wrappers which I would carefully unwrap, one at a time. These coins were one of my Hanukkah treasures that I anxiously awaited all year long.
My other Hanukkah treasure was my Dreidel. It was a small thing, made out of gray colored plastic, but what made it so special was that is was the first Dreidel that I ever got from my father. I kept it in a little velvet-like pouch (it was actually a cap from one of my dolls), and only took it out during the holiday. I had several Dreidels as I was growing up, but that little gray one was always my most prized Dreidel. Each night of the holiday after dinner, I would carefully unwrap my gelt and gently take my Dreidel out of its pouch and play with my treasured Hanukkah toy and eat my gelt.
As I look back and think about those treasures, I realize how much pleasure I received from such small, simple things. Once when I was in third or fourth grade, (it seems so long ago), a classmate asked me what I was dong for Christmas. I told her that since I was Jewish I celebrate Hanukkah instead of Christmas. She asked me what that was and I told her the story about the oil in the Temple and Judah and the Macabees and the traditions that go along with it. When I was done with the story she asked me if I got any gifts for the holiday to which I said yes, and told her some of the things that I got. She seemed to feel sorry for me because I didn’t get any “good” stuff like toys. (I got practical things like socks, books, and pajamas). I told her that I wasn’t sad at all because Hanukkah lasts for eight nights, which meant I got my Hanukkah gelt every night for eight nights in a row!
To me, Hanukkah was a very warm and special time as a child. Sure there were the latkes, lighting the menorah and all the good food, but the best and most important things were my gelt and my Dreidel. Those two simple things are what made Hanukkah so very special.