How an Obscure Jewish Holiday was Elevated to a Major Event

by Susie Black

While almost everyone is familiar with the story of Christmas, Hanukkah, or the Jewish Festival of Lights, is a much lesser-known holiday whose history goes back to well before the birth of Christ. Like most holidays, Hanukkah is steeped in tradition and is celebrated with special foods and events. Hanukkah commemorates a successful rebellion and is a joyous celebration of bravery, miracles, fighting for one’s beliefs, and overcoming the challenges of overwhelming odds.

Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple of Jerusalem in the second century B.C.E., following the triumph of a small group of Jewish rebels, known as the Maccabees, over their oppressors, the Greek-Syrians, who had defiled the temple by erecting an altar to Zeus and sacrificing pigs within its sacred walls. To rededicate the temple, the Maccabees had to light a menorah that would burn eternally. But they only had enough pure olive oil to last for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days, giving the Maccabees time to find a fresh oil supply. 

As a humorous cozy mystery author who happens to be Jewish, I couldn’t help but notice that during the holiday season, there was no shortage of Christmas-themed mysteries, but virtually no Hanukkah-themed ones. To a curious sort like me, it begged the question, why? Was it an oversight or intentional on the part of Jewish authors? First and foremost, a storyteller’s tale must entertain. Did Jewish Authors think their readers would not be interested in such a different storyline? While there is nothing funny about a murder, there is plenty of humor in the foibles of a hapless sleuth’s attempts to bring the killer to justice. Would a Hanukkah-themed cozy mystery fill the bill?

Jews are not known for “fun” holidays. Other than Hanukkah and Purim, the majority of ours involve asking God for forgiveness, for bountiful crops, or help to escape an enemy. Cynics say that the only reason Hanukkah was elevated from obscurity to a major event was to compete with Christmas. Translation: for Jewish parents to quiet their whiny children's kvetching (Yiddish for complaining) about their disappointment of not having anything compared to all their Gentile friends who celebrated Christmas and had all the fun. Since I was one of those whiny kids, I’d say that explanation is spot on.

To commemorate the miracle of the oil lasting eight nights, each night at sundown, my parents lit a special candle set in a menorah (a Jewish candelabra) for eight nights in a row, and recited an ancient prayer. They also gave a gift to each child for eight nights. My mother cooked delicious potato pancakes called latkes when family and friends were at our home to celebrate the holiday with us.

My parents strung blue and white lights around the outside perimeter of our house and lit an electric menorah in a prominent window. They hid round chocolate candies wrapped in tin foil that looked like coins around the house for us kids to find. The coins, called Hanukkah Gelt, were used as money to play a betting game that involved spinning a four-sided dreidel. The dreidel is a top with a Hebrew letter on each side that, when spun, determines which player won or lost. But when our parents explained why we couldn’t have a Christmas tree, we raised quite a ruckus. To appease us, our father bought a small white-flocked tree, strung blue and white lights around it, and put a Jewish Star on top. Then he put our gifts under that tree.

Since Hanukkah is a relatively obscure Jewish holiday, would a mystery with it as the centerpiece interest non-Jews or pique their curiosity? There was only one way to find out. Seeing an opportunity to fill a void, I rolled the dice and wrote Death by Dreidel. And guess what? Death by Dreidel was a hit with both Jewish and Gentile readers! Without giving too much away, here’s the premise of the story:

Mermaid Swimwear President Holly Schlivnik attends an industry Hanukkah party to honor Rapido Swimwear CEO Leni Waxman as the Mount Cedars Hospital Woman of the Year. The guest of honor collapses and dies in the middle of the event. An autopsy confirms that Leni expired as a result of poisoning by coming in contact with a purposely contaminated dreidel. There is no shortage of suspects—Leni had no problem destroying anyone who threatened her top-dog swimwear industry position. When Holly’s business partner is wrongly arrested for Leni’s murder, the irreverent sales exec can’t mind her own beeswax. The wise-cracking snoop sticks her nose everywhere it doesn’t belong to flesh out the real killer. But the trail has more twists and turns than a rollercoaster, and nothing turns out how Holly thinks it will as she takes on a ruthless killer hellbent on revenge.

If I have piqued your curiosity about Hanukkah and how Holly solved the mystery and brought the killer to justice, Death by Dreidel is available at your favorite retailers:

https://books2read.com/u/m2jl7d

Whichever way you celebrate the holiday season, may your traditions bring you and yours the joy that comes with the sense of belonging that binds us humans together.

Named Best US Author of the Year by N. N. Lights Book Heaven, award-winning cozy mystery author Susie Black was born in the Big Apple but now calls sunny Southern California home. Like the protagonist in her Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, Susie is a successful apparel sales executive. Susie began telling stories as soon as she learned to talk. Now she’s telling all the stories from her garment industry experiences in humorous mysteries.

She reads, writes, and speaks Spanish, albeit with an accent that sounds like Mildred from Michigan went on a Mexican vacation and is trying to fit in with the locals. Since life without pizza and ice cream as her core food groups wouldn’t be worth living, she’s a dedicated walker to keep her girlish figure. A voracious reader, she’s also an avid stamp collector and sailor. Susie lives with a highly intelligent man and has one incredibly brainy but smart-aleck adult son who inexplicably blames his sarcasm on an inherited genetic defect.

Looking for more? Contact Susie at:

Website: www.authorsusieblack.com

E-mail: mysteries_@authorsusieblack.com