November 29, 2021
Hanukkah is engrained into New York's holiday season, but roughly 100 years ago the Festival of Lights was big news to many New Yorkers. Look at the newspaper coverage back in the day regarding the holiday, and most "took an arms-length approach," as Bowery Boys puts it. "More than one old Tribune or World carried a variant of the headline "Jews Celebrate Chanukah," as though there might have been some doubt. A 1905 headline even informed readers that, "Chanukah, Commemorating Syrian Defeat, Lasts Eight Days."
Such headlines weren't just the result of ignorance--New York's Jewish population was low through the 1800s, and even within the religion, Hanukkah has traditionally been a minor festival. But a boom in Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe and a reassertion of religious traditions in a new country completely changed the fabric of New York. Eventually, the eight-day festival of light--which commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks over 2,000 years ago--emerged as an important tradition of the city.
Here's what happened
