Hanukkah gelt (Yiddish: חנוכה געלט, hanukkah gelt; Hebrew: דמי חנוכה, dmei chanukah, both meaning literally "Hanukkah money") refers to money as well as chocolate coins given to Jewish children on the festival of Hanukkah. In addition to being given on Hanukkah, chocolate coins are a popular Christmas present as well.
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Rabbi A. P. Bloch has written that "The tradition of giving money (Chanukah gelt) to children is of long standing. The custom had its origin in the seventeenth-century practice of Polish Jewry to give money to their small children for distribution to their teachers. In time, as children demanded their due, money was also given to children to keep for themselves. Teen-age boys soon came in for their share. According to Magen Avraham (18th cent.), it was the custom for poor yeshiva students to visit homes of Jewish benefactors who dispensed Chanukah money (Orach Chaim 670). The rabbis approved of the custom of giving money on Chanukah because it publicized the story of the miracle of the oil."[1]
According to popular legend, it is linked to the miraculous victory of the Maccabees over the ancient Greeks. To celebrate their freedom, the Hasmoneans minted national coins.[2] It may also have begun in 18th century Eastern Europe as a token of gratitude toward religious teachers, similar to the custom of tipping service people on Christmas.[2] In 1958, the Bank of Israel issued commemorative coins for use as Hanukka gelt. That year, the coin bore the image of the same menorah that appeared on Maccabean coins 2,000 years ago.[3]
Twentieth-century American chocolatiers picked up on the gift/coin concept by creating chocolate gelt. In the 1920s, Loft's, an American candy company, produced the first chocolate gelt, wrapped in gold or silver foil in mesh pouches resembling money bags.[2]
Chocolate 'geld' is also given to children as part of the St. Nicholas holiday in Belgium and the Netherlands (geld, spelled with a d, being the Dutch word for money).[2] Today most of the chocolate Hanukkah gelt sold in the United States is imported, including from the Israeli firms Elite and Carmit.[2] But gourmet versions of chocolate gelt have been produced in the United States by companies like California-based Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates and Vermont-based Lake Champlain Chocolates. In England, Divine Chocolates makes gourmet gelt.[2]
Parents often give children chocolate gelt to play dreidel with. In terms of actual gelt (money), parents and grandparents or other relatives may give sums of money as an official Hanukkah gift. According to a survey done in 2006, 74 percent of parents in Israel give their children Chanukah gelt.[4]
In Hasidic communities, the Rebbes distribute coins to those who visit them during Hanukkah. Hasidic Jews consider this to be an auspicious blessing from the Rebbe, and a segulah for success. The amount is usually in small coins.
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