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Originally Posted by wolf
Rich, do you have any insight into this issue ...
Was there any gift-giving associated with Chanukah before, say, about the 1940s (just guessing at time of culture change)? What do presents have to do with the bottle of oil lasting 8 days, anyway?
Do modern Hasids exchange gifts during Chanukah, or do they just do the prayers over the candles?
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Well, first,
here is a Hanukkah story I had never heard before. Hanukkah is the celebration of a revolt, and as usual, insurgents do not play by the rules and the women are often more dangerous than the men.
I had heard in Hebrew school (say that three times real fast) that the present giving was fairly recent.
This site says the same thing. Of course, we could both be wrong and repeating what we were told. BTW, it also mentions the story about Judith.
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In remembrance, a candle is lit each of the eight days of Hanukkah. Children receive gifts of gelt (in remembrance of the coins minted by the new independent Maccabee state) or money and play games of dreidel (a spinning four-sided top.) The tradition of receiving a gift on each of the eight days of Hanukkah is fairly recent. Since Christians exchange gifts at Christmas, Jews have come to exchange gifts other than coins at Hanukkah, which comes at the same time of the year.
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