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It’s the seventh night of Chanukah and I can’t count how many
times the Listserv has been faced with “The Hanukkah Problem.” No, nothing at
all to do with the holiday itself -- its relative significance compared to
other holidays in the Jewish calendar, its historical development, whether it’s
been turned into a Jewish version of Christmas as a gift-giving bonanza…. These
are all interesting questions but I’m not talking about anything so substantive
in my “Still Life with Robin” column, which typically shies away from weighty matters to focus on the small stuff.
The problem at hand is a mere question of spelling. It’s something that faces the
editor in any form of media or mass communications, from a million-plus
circulation newspaper down to a humble neighborhood listserv.
So….how to you spell this crazy holiday, anyway? In some
ways, it’s a thornier problem for a listserv, which posts messages from lots
and lots of individual writers, than for a large newspaper, whose reporters are all bound by the publication’s stylebook. As
editor/moderator of the Cleveland Park Listserv, should I impose my own
spelling preference on all who post about the holiday? Or let posters use the
spelling of their choice?
Complicating the issue is the popular usage of not just two,
or three, or even four orthographic versions, but the existence of SIXTEEN
different spellings, each of which is used often enough to be recognized as
acceptable in some publication or other, not to mention popular enough to return
hundreds of Google search results. (See http://joemaller.com/601/sixteen-ways-to-spell-hanukkah/.)
Up to now, I’ve tended to let each poster decide the
spelling in his or her own message. So – just in the last week we’ve had three
different forms in messages. In the notice for the fundraising concert that will take place
on Sunday at Temple Micah in aid of Syrian refugees – it’s a Hanukkah Concert (see message # 142799). The Wilson High School Crew members who have been raising
money for their team are selling Christmas wreaths – and also Chanukah
kits (see message #142585). And then there have been some individuals who have talked
about celebrating Hanukah.
If you’re wondering why there are so many spellings, well,
it has to do with various ways that Hebrew letters and sounds can be rendered
in English. If you’re interested, there’s more about that here: https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/hanukkah-what-does-it-mean-anyway-1.5346003
My personal preference is to lead off with an “H” instead of
the “CH” on the grounds that the CH can all too easily mislead anyone unfamiliar
with Hebrew sounds to pronounce the first syllable the same as the middle syllable of enCHANtment. Once a
small child makes the unfortunate mistake of reading out the word aloud as “Chan – NOO – kuh” – and burns with embarrassment at the laughter that follows, that
child may never want to hear about the holiday again! So I think in English, we
should always start with the H, to be kind to children. After that, there should be just
one N but two Ks. Then there’s a final H. Hanukkah. That’s the way I’ve usually
seen ii spelled in announcements sent in by synagogues and Jewish organizations – so I
tend to think of that spelling as the majority rabbinically-approved form. Still, I’m
not ready to impose it on all posters on the listserv.
So I am going to keep on letting each poster spell it as he
or she feels comfortable doing. I suppose if someone went so far off the normal mix
of H/CH or one or two Ns or Ks and final H/no final H so as to render the holiday unrecognizable, I would impose some editorial control….but until that day
comes, Happy H/CHaNNuKKaH to all!
And here’s a little song to cap off your seventh night:
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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland ParkListserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.
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