Seeing the Light: An Elementary School Chanukah Scavenger Hunt
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ShareLight is a major theme of Chanukah. In this scavenger hunt, written for students in upper elementary grades, students will travel through the Sefaria library in search of light. Where is it mentioned? In what context is it mentioned? How does it relate to Chanukah?
Light is a major theme of Chanukah. In this scavenger hunt, you will travel through the Sefaria library in search of light. Where is it mentioned? In what context is it mentioned? How does it relate to Chanukah?
Step 1 - Earliest sighting of light
Where is "light" ("אור") first mentioned in the Torah?
Type "light" or ״אור״ in the search bar.
From the dropdown menu, select the bottom option which is the word in quotation marks.
Since you are looking for the earliest mention of the word, filter the results so that they will appear in chronological order from earliest to latest.
- What is the earliest source that mentions light?
- Click on the first source to open it in the library.
- What does this source say about light?
Step 2 - Light is everywhere!
How common is the theme of light? Does it appear in every book of the Torah?
- Return to the list of "light" sources.
Now that your results are in chronological order in the Tanakh, you can determine if "light" appears in every book of the Torah.
Not sure which books fall into which category? Check out the library page of the Tanakh by clicking on "Tanakh" on the main library page.
- In which book of the Torah is “light” mentioned the most?
Step 3 - Chanukah Torah reading
Although one major theme of Chanukah is that of light, there are other themes as well.
The special Chanukah Torah readings come from Numbers (Bamidbar) chapter 7 and don't talk about light at all! In this chapter we read that when Moshe finished setting up the mishkan (tabernacle) they had a special 12 day celebration dedicating the new mishkan.
- How does the topic relate to Chanukah?
Step 4 - Haftarah on Shabbat Chanukah
On the Shabbat during the week of Chanukah, we read a special Haftarah which comes from the book of Zechariah (2:14-4:7).
- Which section of the Tanakh does the Haftarah come from? Find Zechariah on the Tanakh library page.
The connection to Chanukah begins in Zechariah 4:2. Type "Zechariah 4:2" into the search bar and press "enter".
- What is the connection to light? How does it connect to Chanukah?
Step 5 - Chanukah as star of the show
Until now, we have looked at sources from the Tanakh that mentioned light. None of the sources were speaking about the Chanukah story.
So where can we find sources about Chanukah and light in the library?
- Go to the Chanukah topic page by typing "Chanukah" in the search bar and selecting #Chanukah from the dropdown menu.
Some of the most famous discussions about Chanukah and lighting lights on Chanukah appear in the sources marked "Shabbat". “Shabbat” in this context refers to the Talmud. Find “Talmud” on the library page and click on it to open the table of contents.
- Learn about the Talmud by reading “About Talmud” in the top right side of the page.
- Click on the link to open one of the Shabbat texts. You are now in the full version of the text.
The Talmud explains that we light lights on Chanukah to remember the miracle or the one cruse of oil that lasted for eight days after Judah Maccabee defeated Antiochus in 165 BCE.
- Challenge question: Why would this be discussed in the Talmud and not the Torah?
