[Avodah] Is there any obligation to make a seudah (meal) in honor of Chanukah?

[Prof. L. Levine]

>From today's OU Kosher Halacha Yomis


Q. Is there any obligation to make a seudah (meal) in honor of Chanukah?

A. Although there is no specific obligation to eat a meal on Chanukah, Rama (Orach Chaim 670:2) writes that it is nevertheless proper to prepare such a meal to recall the re-dedication of the Temple and to sing zemiros (songs of praise and thanks) to remember the miracles. If one does so, the meal is elevated to the status of a seudas mitzvah (i.e., there is a mitzvah to partake of such a meal). Additionally, there is a minhag to eat cheese on Chanukah, to remember how Yehudis (the daughter of Yochanan Kohen Gadol) was able to behead the Greek general Holofernes after serving him milk products. There is also an ancient minhag to eat foods fried in oil, such as doughnuts, to remember the miracle of the oil. The Rambam’s father, Rav Maimon HaDayan ben Yosef, writes that in his days this was already an established minhag, and that one should not treat it lightly.

Professor Yitzchok Levine
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