Hanukkah, also known as the ‘Festival of Lights,’ is a Jewish celebration lasting eight nights and eight days that serves as a reminder of religious freedom, resilience, and the triumph of light over darkness. The holiday, rooted in the historical triumph of the Maccabees and the enduring flame that burned for eight days, holds deep religious and cultural significance for Jewish people. Yet, this Hanukkah, within the Jewish community of Dripping Springs High School, a new generation of students is redefining the spirit of the holiday, sharing their distinct experiences and perspectives on its deeply rooted traditions.
In Dripping Springs, Jewish families celebrate Hanukkah with a rich array of unique and diverse customs, each choosing to observe the festival in their own distinct manner—whether following traditional practices or embracing a more modern approach.
“We have a menorah, and we put candles on the menorah,” junior Oskar Silverman said. “One for each night, for eight nights. We sing a prayer, tell each other ‘happy Hanukkah,’ and give each other a small gift every day.”
The menorah, a nine-branched candelabrum, is the focal point of Hanukkah celebrations. Lit over eight nights, each candle symbolizes the miraculous duration of oil in the ancient temple. The central candle, the shamash, or “helper” candle, serves to light the others, bringing families together in the comforting lights of the holiday season. Some students come from interfaith households, so they celebrate multiple holidays.
“My dad’s side of the family is Jewish, and my mom’s side is Christian, so we celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas,” junior Etta Grushkin said.
Junior Caitlyn Dorsey similarly observes an amalgamation of the two holidays. She embraces the fusion of cultures within her household, with both sides of her family coming together to embrace their diverse heritage and rich traditions.
“We’re like a Christmukkah family…On the 23rd of December, my whole family gets together and we do our formal ‘Christmukkah’ event,” Dorsey said. “We play dreidel, but then we open Christmas presents; my grandma has a Hanukkah bush…it’s so silly.”
No matter how you celebrate, food can hold a special place in our memories, bringing a touch of nostalgia to everyday moments. A simple familiar flavor can effortlessly transport us back in time, whether it’s the aroma of a childhood dish or the taste of a family recipe. Food has the power to bridge the gap between the present and the past. And when it comes to triggering these vivid memories, few things do it better than the traditional foods enjoyed during Hanukkah celebrations. The crispy latkes, the sweet aroma of jelly donuts, and the comforting warmth of a bowl of matzah ball soup become not just dishes on the table, but reminders of shared history and festive joy.
For Silverman, nostalgia colors his memories of childhood Hanukkahs, where latkes and applesauce held a special place on his plate.
“When I was younger I remember not liking anything else besides latkes and applesauce on my plate, and that’s the only thing I would eat, so it’s just a good feeling now to eat them,” Silverman said.
Latkes are crispy potato pancakes, a traditional Hanukkah dish, fried in oil to symbolize the holiday’s miracle. They’re similar to hash browns, and often served with applesauce or sour cream, bringing a savory touch to the celebration.
“Fried potatoes are always good,” said sophomore Liam Ianiro.
Similarly to latkes, Sufganiyot is another traditional Hanukkah dish fried in oil. Sufganiyot is an Israeli dish that resembles a cross between a beignet and a jelly donut. These pillowy treats encapsulate the sweetness of the holiday, with their airy texture and luscious jelly fillings.
“My favorite dish is probably jelly donuts, because when I was young, I learned how to make them, and it was always really fun for me to do the filling,” Grushkin said.
Comfort food is essential during the holiday season- and what’s more comforting than a steamy bowl of soup?
“I’m a very picky eater,” Dorsey said. “That’s why matzah ball soup has always been my favorite. It reminds me of my grandma because she always makes it. No one else in my family really knows the recipe except for her, and I just remember since I was little her making it and scooping out the vegetables for me, ‘cause I didn’t like them. It’s really good too, and I feel bad for people who’ve never gotten to taste it. It’s probably the best Jewish dish.”
A comforting blend of tradition and taste, matzah ball soup is a classic Jewish dish with light and fluffy dumplings made from matzah meal and simmered in a savory broth. Evidently, food has a special way of bringing people together and allowing us to feel more connected to our culture.
“Our matzah ball soup recipe is four or five generations old. It was passed down from my great-great grandma,” Ianiro said.
Clearly, food has the capability of connecting us not just with our close relatives, but also our ancestors. For many students, celebrating with family is the most important part of Hanukkah, fostering a sense of belonging and connection.
“I have fond memories of calling my grandma and getting to celebrate Hanukkah with her,” Dorsey said. “Whenever Hanukkah starts she sends me a text with a little gif emoji at the bottom of it…My grandma grew up in New York, where there were a lot more Jewish people, and her family immigrated from Russia to get away from antisemitism, so there’s a lot of fear there…but she’s still very proud of her Jewish heritage.”
For Dorsey, these fond generational ties add to her desire for a stronger connection with the holiday and her religion.
“I like listening to [my grandmother’s] stories about when she celebrated Hanukkah when she was younger,” Dorsey said. “She was very immersed in her culture, and that’s something I wish that I had gotten more, but that didn’t really happen. It makes me feel more motivated to go to temple and want to experience those things. I feel jealous, in a sense, that she got to grow up that way. Because I feel like here, the culture is almost non-existent. Anywhere you go it’s just Christmas stuff everywhere and people either just don’t understand or they think you’re weird.”
It’s undeniable that Christmas is oversaturated in our culture and media, which can have a profound impact on Jewish students’ experiences of the holiday season.
“I think that it’s overarchingly clear that Christmas is the dominant holiday, and it overshadows Hanukkah,” Ianiro said. “My whole life, I’ve interacted with people who don’t know it exists at all.”
The disparity becomes strikingly evident as the influence of Christmas subtly, yet consistently, marginalizes the recognition and representation of Hanukkah. The pervasive dominance of Christmas not only casts its shadow within the confines of school walls, where Hanukkah often goes unacknowledged as a significant holiday, but the commercial sphere as well, clearly seen by the sparse and understocked Hanukkah sections in grocery stores.
“Schools don’t really recognize Hanukkah as a holiday,” Dorsey said. “You still have to participate in school and your after-school activities…which makes it hard to actually participate, especially since Hanukkah rituals begin at sundown. There’s also no Hanukkah decor anywhere. It’s like one little shelf, which is really disappointing, and it’s really picked over because either they don’t stock it or they underestimate.”
A broad lack of awareness surrounding Hanukkah leads to a feeling of the holiday being secondary to Christmas.
“It’s a really minor holiday for us… sometimes it feels like a filler or a replacement for Christmas, in the sense that everyone gets Christmas and I get Hanukkah,” Silverman says.
Many students shed light on the overarching stigmas surrounding their faith and culture, as well as the broader challenges encountered by the Jewish community.
“I think there’s two levels to being Jewish,” Ianiro said. “You know that you are historically underrepresented and you need to bring advocacy for the people that you are a part of in your group, but I think it’s overshadowed with the stigma of stereotypes that a lot of Jews are represented as, that are really, really hurtful. I’ve had people in my classes in the past that have made fun of my Jewish practices and diminished what it is to be part of the Jewish community. And that comes in different forms, like telling me that I don’t matter, or saying slurs, or making jokes about the Holocaust. It’s not funny. A big thing to being Jewish is undergoing scrutiny from the people around you, and it’s something you learn to grow and understand.”
Yet, in the face of these challenges, there’s resilience and pride that shines through.
“For me, it’s just recognizing everything that we’ve gone through to get to this point to be a thriving culture and understanding that there are rising issues and antisemitism happening in the world, but still being proud of the fact that we have all of these unique traditions, something that not a lot of people can say they’ve participated in,” Dorsey said.
Looking to the future, many students consider how they will carry forward their Hanukkah traditions as they move through life and eventually start their own families. For students from interfaith households, this can lead to a complex and challenging dilemma.
“It’s a very difficult thing,” Dorsey said. “Because, if I marry into a Jewish family, I feel like I’ll lose the traditions I’ve had with my family all my life of celebrating Christmas, because that’s something I’m very fond of. But at the same time, I worry that if I don’t marry into a Jewish family, that part of me is just going to fade.”
Overall, the Jewish students of Dripping Springs High School find ample cause to celebrate their Jewish heritage this Hanukkah. These students’ perspectives show their pride in the Jewish communities’ resilience.
“Jewish people have always been the hardest working people… No matter how bad the time is, they always get through it,” Silverman said.