These Are The Best DIY Hanukiah Ideas On The Internet
Publicizing the miracle Image by Getty Images
Hanukkah is a holiday based on traditions, not commandments. Eat foods fried in olive oil? Tradition. Exchange gifts? Tradition. Try to interest anyone under the age of 18 in a game involving a plastic spinning top? Weird tradition.
There’s really only one big thing the rabbis of the talmud ask us to do for Hanukkah, and that is to “publicize the miracle” by lighting hanukiot and displaying them where they can be seen from the street. The flames, the rabbis tell us, should only be used for publicizing the miracle (i.e. you may not use them to roast marshmallows.)
But what if you don’t have access to a Hanukiah? What if you are a college student or you have a judaica shop phobia, or you’re just really broke? You don’t need a miracle to make it happen.
I give you: the best ideas for do-it-yourself Hanukiot on the internet.
I would never, ever write a Pinterest-based listicle without honoring the mason jar. This mason jar hannukiah idea could not possibly be easier.
“But Forward,” you say. “I’m not a professional jam maker or a blogger from Williamsburg! I don’t have thousands of mason jars lying around my home!” Fair enough. Try shot glasses.
Citrus Hanukiah
Erin Gleeson’s citrus hanukkiah Image by Erin Gleeson
I have travelled the internet far and wide. I have sailed Pinterest boards and circumnavigated Instagram. This scurvy-warding idea from Erin Gleeson is the easiest and cheapest homemade hanukiah out there.
Cheaper and easier than it looks, and guaranteed to be the heirloom your children will fight over after you die.
Stepping on any part of this Hanukiah will evoke the pain the Hasmoneans felt when threatened by assimilation!
All ya need is baby food jars, pebbles and votive candles. I, for one, keep all of those essentials in my purse.
Another one with baby food jars! This is, I guess, for a person who has a baby but also a lot of time to do crafting and an interest in lighting alcohol-soaked string on fire in their baby’s home. Regardless, look how cute it is! This would also be a great possibility for a childless person who scavenges from her new parent neighbors’ recycling bin.
This hanukiah idea astonished me.
Ah, at last we arrive in the realm of the edible hanukiah. Other great options are: stacked chocolate chip cookie hanukiah, individual marshmallow hanukiah and silver spray-painted Oreo hanukiah.
Go forth and publicize the miracle.
Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
