Thread by @AbbyChavaStein

I hate all the "#Chanukah is just a minor holiday" and "historically #Hanukkah wasn't a big deal holiday" talk.

Hasidic Jews, and others following Kabbalistic teachings, have made a huge deal out of it for centuries.

Big enough to call it (Day 8) a High Holidays extension!

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I get that we hate the comparisons to Kratzmach (the Yiddish nickname for Christmas), and the commercialization of #Hanukka. Yes, it's not one of the 3 biblical festivals, but after that, it's undoubtedly the biggest holiday - albeit in many ways even bigger.

Some details:

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- #Chanukah is seen as in some ways even higher than "big" holidays, exactly because it's weekdays. It makes it's spiritual/cultural significance even better.

- the food: latkes, donuts, oil food, festive meals, etc. predate commercialization.

- gifts, in form of money >

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> yup. #Chanukka gifts are not a copy from Christmas. Giving gifts of money (hence the Chocolate Gelt) is mentioned as early as the 14th century.

- High Holidays: pretty much every Hasidic book talks about the 8th Day of Hanukkah as the final day of the High Holidays.

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> and based on teachings that "Everything goes after the conclusion" ultimately being the peak of it.

Yes, you heard me. #Hanukkah maybe is a minor holiday - so minor, that it's the peak of the High Holidays 🤔

In fact, some Hasidic writings on Chanikkah are the largest >

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> by sheer volume, compared to other holidays.

Long story short:
Yes, many communities didn't make a big deal of Chanikah till it became commercialized.

Others, like my ancestors, very much did for centuries.

Don't erase it.

#HappyHanukkah you all 🕎

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