Office of Historic Alexandria City of Alexandria, Virginia

Out of the Attic

Hannukah in 20th century Alexandria

Alexandria Times, Decemberber 10, 2020

anukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-night celebration. According to legend, when the Maccabees, a small group of Jewish fighters, entered the Temple, reclaiming it from the H Syrian Greeks in 168 B.C.E., they immediately relit the “ner tamid,” or eternal light, but only had one jar of oil. The messenger who was sent to secure additional oil took eight days to complete his mission. Miraculously, the single jar of oil continued to burn until his return. At what is the coldest, darkest time of the year for many people, Jews celebrate by bringing light and warmth into their homes, communities, and the world around them. Many families spend time together during these eight days eating foods prepared in oil, such as latkes and sufganyot, lighting a menorah and playing a game of dreidel. Before the mid-20th century, Hanukkah was not a major holiday for most Jewish Americans. The word “Chanukkah” or “Hanukkah,” does not appear in the Alexandria Gazette until the early 20th century. That is not because there was not an active Jewish community in the city. There was one dating back to the 1860s and the city was home to two congregations by the early 20th century: Beth El Hebrew Congregation, founded in 1859, and Agudas Achim, founded in 1914. Instead, this absence in the newspaper record reflects Hanukkah’s position within the Jewish religious calendar. The Alexandria Gazette reports on Purim balls and store closings during the high holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in the 1870s, but not on Hanukkah until the first decade of the 20th century. The first few local references in the 1910s describe the celebration as a half-holiday that was largely celebrated at home and not observed with synagogue services. Also known as a Feast of Dedication, Hanukkah was largely a children’s festival. One article from December 1919 reports on an “interesting program given by Congregation Agudas Achim.” This is the most in-depth coverage of local Hanukkah celebrations that appears in the Alexandria Gazette before the mid-20 century. The program included songs, recitations and lighting of the candles. Agudas Achim’s celebrations also included a raffle and every child received a prayer book. After World War II, the story of the Maccabee resistance and ultimate triumph over their Greek oppressors was more relevant and resonant, which contributed to Hanukkah’s rise in popularity. The holiday’s proximity to Christmas in December also helped turn Hanukkah into a more widely celebrated, and commercial, holiday. Today Hanukkah is widely celebrated in the United States. Here in Alexandria, local synagogues, Jewish community centers and families commemorate the event with programs, traditional foods and lighting the menorah. Office of Historic Alexandria City of Alexandria, Virginia

“Out of the Attic” is published each week in the Alexandria Times newspaper. The column began in September 2007 as “Marking Time” and explored Alexandria’s history through collection items, historical images and architectural representations. Within the first year, it evolved into “Out of the Attic” and featured historical photographs of Alexandria.

These articles appear with the permission of the Alexandria Times and were authored by staff of the Office of Historic Alexandria and invited guests. This week’s Attic is by Historic Alexandria staff, Catherine Weinraub and Tatiana Niculescu.