QUESTION: Why are women required to observe the mitzva of lighting the candles?
ANSWER: In the Gemara Shabbos32 we read, “Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: ‘Women are required to observe the lighting of the candles because they were involved in the miracle’’ (see Rashi, Shabbos 21), because they were also involved in the miracle when Yehudith killed the Syrian-Greek general Holofernes.
QUESTION: Why do we play the game dreidel on Chanukah?
ANSWER: The Greeks prohibited the study of the Torah. At that time, the Torah was taught orally and it was memorized by the children. The sages thought up this ingenious idea of giving each child a dreidel (a top) to play with, and when the soldiers would enter the classrooms they would find them playing games instead of learning Torah. The letters on the dreidel, N, G, H, S, stand for: “Nes Gadol Haya Sham – a great miracle happened there.’’