Talk:Hanukkah

Puzzled - Judith/cheese and milk

The text of the Book of Judith makes no relevant reference to cheese or milk, only drunkenness. --Dweller (talk) 08:40, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Can you tell us what that has to do with this article? --Steven J. Anderson (talk) 10:24, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Ok, Hanukkah#Judith_and_Holofernes. --Steven J. Anderson (talk) 10:32, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Yup. That's what I'm asking about. Anyone know the answer? --Dweller (talk) 20:16, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

According to what's in our article here, she plied him with cheese and wine. --Steven J. Anderson (talk) 20:35, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Yes, but the book of Judith doesn't mention cheese. That's my point. --Dweller (talk) 19:41, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Well, the whole thing doesn't seem properly sourced to me. The Judith and Holofernes story takes place during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, which was a couple of hundred years before the events of the Hanukkah story. Of course that doesn't mean the tradition of eating cheese doesn't exist. But no source that I can see says it does. WP:JUDAISM would probably be a good place to take this. --Steven J. Anderson (talk) 20:35, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Try this. Some versions of Judith include the part about the cheese. The Kol Bo says Judith was the daughter of Yochanan Kohen Gadol, which would make her a (much younger) sister of Matitiyahu. As far as Nebuchadnezzar goes, it was common in ancient writings like this to use the name of a different king in order to avoid trouble with the authorities. There are references to Nevuzaradan that are clearly referring to Titus, for example. - Lisa (talk - contribs) 22:00, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

<-Thanks, helpful. --Dweller (talk) 16:24, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Edit request on 22 December 2011

please add this pic to the entry: http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%91%D7%A5:Hanukkah-candle07_.JPG thank you!

שלמה (talk) 23:41, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

I don't think that image would add anything to a reader's understanding of Hanukkah above and beyond the images we already have. Huon (talk) 09:36, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Misspelling of Chanukah

This holiday is consistently misspelled by people who don't know hebrew. In hebrew, the first letter of this holiday is a "chet," giving a pronunciation like the "ch" in Loch, like Loch Ness. The correct spelling is NOT "hanukah," but rather, a word that has the consonant sounds of "ch","n","k", and the aspiration of "h." In current jewish culture, both variants are used, but more and more, the "chanukah," is replacing "hannukah," as people wise up to the error of their ways. The title of this page should be changed to reflect the correct spelling. To avoid doing so, is a form of cultural destruction.

--non-logged-in random corrector dude (talk) 22:17, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Nonsense. There is no one "correct" spelling for Hanukkah in English. This article uses the most common romanization. If you think it should be changed, there's a process for achieving that. --Steven J. Anderson (talk) 22:40, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

I agree with Steven J. Anderson: Per WP:COMMONNAME, we should use the most common English name, not a supposedly better but less common transliteration of the Hebrew name. Huon (talk) 22:51, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

On what basis was it decided that "Hanukkah" was the most common? I've seen both "Hanukkah" and "Chanukah" with fair frequency. It seems to me like we should go with the more "correct"/"standard" choice (and yes, guidelines do exist); I'm more inclined, however, to transcribe as close to the IPA as possible while still allowing for English orthography rules. Thus, 'ch' for [χ], 'ah' for [a] at the end of a word (as opposed to [ə]), and a single 'k' to keep the 'u' long (i.e. [u], not [ʊ] or [ʌ]). —Gordon P. Hemsley→✉ 17:08, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

If you're seriously interested in moving the page, the place to seek consensus for that is at WP:RM. Bear in mind that the current spelling is the result of a prior consensus and the likely result of a new discussion is that that consensus will be reaffirmed. --Steven J. Anderson (talk) 23:31, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

See this prior discussion. --Steven J. Anderson (talk) 00:15, 25 December 2011 (UTC)

"Hanukkah" outnumbers "Chanukah" on Google Scholar and Google Books at a ratio of about 2:1, and vastly more so on Google Web. I'm aware Google search results are not the ultimate truth regarding frequency of use, but the sources using "Hanukkah" seem also to be the more reliable ones; see for example articles published by the Israel Sociological Society or the Journal for the Study of Pseudepigrapha. Huon (talk) 02:13, 25 December 2011 (UTC)