Hanukkah Gelt 2023 or Hanukkah gelt coins refers to either money or a coin-shaped piece of chocolate that is given as a tradition to children; this tradition began in Europe in the Middles Ages. Customarily, the chocolate coin is wrapped in silver or gold foil and distributed among the children in small colorful bags on the day of Hanukkah.
Occasionally, the Hanukkah gelt is also used to create a pot for “a game of Dreidel. The Dreidel - is a four-sided top with a different letter on each side. The letters or the first initials of the words in the phrase Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, refer "a great miracle happened there." This game is played by all children, parents, and close relatives until someone wins all of the gelt.
OLDEN TIMES OF HANUKKAH GELT 2023
The word Gelt is the Yiddish term for "money." The Tradition of giving children money on Hanukkah began further to the Middle Ages, the era in which the custom is usually said to have invented, and there are several other competing theories.
However it is not mentioned anywhere, neither the Talmud nor the ShulhanArukh (the Code of Jewish Law), the significance of coins in the history of the Hasmonean period is unclear.
According to the First Book of Maccabees in 142 B.C.E., that is 22 years after the Temple was recaptured, Simon (Maccabee) - the surviving son of Matthias, brought independence to the Jewish people. Syria’s King Antiochus VII stated to Simon - “I turn over to you the right to make your stamp for coinage for your country.”
Buy Hanukkah Gelt Online 2023
Throughout the subsequent years of the Hasmonean period, the first Jewish coins in history were supplied. One of the coins imprinted by the last Hasmonean king, Antigonus Matityahu, " the seven-branched menorah " was designed on one side and " the table of Shew Bread" on the other, both symbols of the restored Temple.
In 70 C.E - when the second temple was also devastated, Jewish coinage ceased until modem times except for a short-term period during the Bar Kochba Revolution (132-135 C.E.). Consequently, no Jewish coins were available to distribute when the custom of “Hanukkah gelt – giving” began as an essential part of the festival during the Middle Ages.
The tradition comes from the Hebrew word for Hanukkah. Hanukkah is linked to the Hebrew word – Channukah for education, it became a tradition for families to give gelt to their children, so that they provide to their Jewish teacher as a gift to show thankfulness for education. Sooner, it became customary to give Gelt to the children as well to boost their Jewish studies.
In 1958, the Bank of Israel introduced a program of striking special memorial coins to use as Hanukkah gelt. In a dazzling perceived change to link the modern world with the ancient history of our Jewish people, the Hanukkah coin designed the same menorah that had appeared on the Last Maccabean coins.
Every single year since 1958 (except 1964-71), the Hanukkah gelt coin has honored a Jewish community all over the world. In 1972, a silver coin was hit showing a 20th-century Russian menorah, a clear message to the world about Soviet Jewry. On the 200th, the anniversary of the United States' Declaration of Independence, the 1976 Hanukkah coin presented a colonial American menorah.
HANUKKAH GELT TODAY 2023
Many Jewish families carry on giving their children actual monetary gelt as a custom of Hanukkah celebrations today. Usually, children are encouraged to contribute this money to a charity as an act of “tzedakah” (charity) to teach them about the importance of giving money to those in requisite.
CHOCOLATE GELT 2023
During the early days of the 20th century, an American chocolatier came up with the idea of creating coin-shaped pieces of chocolates wrapped in gold or silver foil as Hanukkah gelt to offer children as chocolate being a more appealing gift than money, especially for small kids.
Thus, Children of all ages receive chocolates as Hanukkah gelt and also use it to play Dreidel.
Conclusion
Whatever might be your source for Hanukkah gelt, it is always delightful to share your good luck with those in need or for a good reason.
