Hanukkah Gelt Recipe | Hallmark Ideas & Inspiration (2025)

FAQs

What is the significance of gelt at Hanukkah? ›

The gelt of Hanukkah recalls the booty, including coins, that the Maccabean. victors distributed to the Jewish widows, soldiers, and orphans, possibly at the first celebration of the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple.

The word “gelt” means “money” in both Hebrew and Yiddish. Chocolate gelt are the chocolate coins that are typically given to children during Hanukkah. Jewish or not, you've probably seen the familiar mesh bags with the shiny wrappers inside. You may have even been given a few over the years.

Three Hanukkah Desserts That Skip the Fryer. Melissa Clark's oil-imbued recipes, for lemon curd, chocolate cake and Greek honey cookies, are a sweet way to celebrate the holiday. This olive oil lemon curd can be served with scones or berries, piled into a Pavlova or mounded into a tart shell.

According to the Jewish Outreach Institute, the roots of gelt, or "money" in Yiddish, are in the first Jewish minted coins, in 142 B.C.E, after the Macabees gained independence from the Syrian king.

Definitions of gelt. noun. informal terms for money. synonyms: boodle, bread, cabbage, clams, dinero, dough, kale, lettuce, lolly, loot, lucre, moolah, pelf, scratch, shekels, simoleons, sugar, wampum. type of: money.

You can use gelt (aka "money") to gamble with in a game of dreidel (though a greedy winner may get a stomachache along with his or her bragging rights), pile them into a bowl for a holiday centerpiece or simply hand them around after the candles on the menorah are lit and warmly flickering.

Hanukkah History: Those Chocolate Coins Were Once Real Tips : The Salt Many Jewish families celebrate the holiday by handing out gelt, chocolate coins covered in gold and silver. These days they're treats for kids. But the practice began as a way to thank labor.

Today, chocolate gelt wrapped in silver or gold foil remains a part of the Hanukkah tradition. The chocolate tends to be hard and not very tasty; nevertheless, it is an important part of the joy of Hanukkah.

There is no pork or shellfish allowed, and Jews will not mix meat and dairy in the same meal, so if a chicken is on the table, you won't find butter or cheese.

Fried foods, like potato pancakes and jelly doughnuts, are prepared and eaten throughout the holiday to celebrate the miracle of Hanukkah: oil that kept the menorah (an ancient lamp) lit for 8 days instead of the 1 day it was supposed to last.

What are the rules for Hanukkah food? ›

"Among other rules, eating certain animals, primarily pigs and shellfish, is forbidden; meat must be ritually and humanely slaughtered; and dairy and meat aren't to be eaten at the same meal." Fish and plant foods are "neutral" (parve) and can be eaten with either meat or dairy.

But at Hanukkah, the instructors accepted gelt/coins. Those coins signified appreciative, though modest, compensation for dedication to Jewish education (also a play on the Hebrew words for education and the holiday).

The custom had its origin in the 17th-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.

An important Hanukkah tradition, gelt is either money given as a gift on Hanukkah or, more commonly today, a coin-shaped piece of chocolate. Gelt is generally given to children, though, in the past, it was an adult tradition as well.

In late medieval Europe, it became a tradition for families to give their children gelt to give to the local Jewish teacher on Hanukkah as a gift to show appreciation for education. Eventually, it became customary to give coins to the children as well to encourage their Jewish studies.

Called sufganiyot in Hebrew, this confection is a Chanukah treat throughout the Jewish world. Deep-fried jelly doughnuts recall the oil that burned miraculously for eight days in the second-century BCE Temple in Jerusalem.

The word "gelt" actually means money in Yiddish, and these chocolatey treats symbolize the ancient coins that were minted during the time of the Hanukkah story. So, when you unwrap that chocolate coin, you're not just indulging in a sweet treat, you're also connecting with Jewish history and tradition.

According to tradition, during the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean revolt, a small quantity of oil used to light the Temple's menorah somehow miraculously burned for eight days. Hanukkah commemorates this event.