Chanukah - Why Chocolate Gelt?

Hasmonean Coins by Solomon Grayzel 1936
With the arrival of the Greeks in Asia (ca. 330 B.C.E.) and the spread of hellenizing influences, some of the important towns received a Greek constitution and with it the privilege of minting copper coins, that of more valuable coins being reserved to the central government. As the Seleucid Empire broke up, in the second century B.C.E., the smaller states, thus freed, assumed rights of coinage.
In Judaea this right was involved in the Maccabean struggle. Neither under the domination of Egypt nor of the Seleucids had Judaea enjoyed the right of coinage, a right which would have been of value to the commercial life of Jerusalem. Hence those Jews who welcomed hellenization regarded the privilege of coinage as one of the ends to be attained by submission to Antiochus. By the irony of history it was not they but their opponents, the Hasmoneans who, through the Seleucid break-up, were destined to assume this function of government. For when Jerusalem was finally freed of the unwelcome Syrian soldiers stationed in the Acra, and when Simon son of Mattathias had been acclaimed by the Jews as their hereditary ruler, his government commenced to coin money, an act in which the Syrian overlord acquiesced. The earliest coins were apparently only of bronze, in denominations of one-half, one-quarter, and one- eighth of the shekel. Indeed, soon thereafter Syria withdrew this privilege, and coinage was resumed only under Simon's son, John Hyrcan.
From time to time coins of this period have been unearthed. On the obverse of Simon's half-shekel is a citron (etrog) between two branches of a palm-tree (lulabim), surrounded by the inscription shnat arba hazi (fourth year, half). The whole is included in a border of dots. The reverse bears a date tree below the branches of which are two baskets filled with fruit. Around this is written li-geulat zion (to the redemption of Zion). This side, too, has a border of dots. The quarter-shekel, smaller in size, differs from the half in that it has only two branches of the palm-tree, and the word reba!' (fourth) instead of the word for half. The reverse differs only in the substitution of a single citron for the more elaborate decoration on the half-shekel. The eighth-shekel, still smaller, bears a single palm branch between two citrons, the inscription shenat arba (fourth year), and the usual circle of dots. On the reverse it bears a chalice, the words meaning “to the redemption of Zion," and the circle of dots. The lettering on all the coins is not in the square Hebrew characters of the present day, but in the archaic characters.

Maimonides' Introduction to Perek Chelek
You, however, who read this book thoughtfully, must understand the analogy which I am about to draw for you. Prepare your mind to understand what I tell you about all this. Imagine a small child who has been brought to his teacher so that he may be taught the Torah, which is his ultimate good because it will bring him to perfection. However, because he is only a child and because his understanding is deficient, he does not grasp the rue value of that good, nor does he understand the perfection which he can achieve by means of Torah. Of necessity, therefore, his teacher, who has acquired greater perfection than the child loves in childish way. Thus, the teacher may say, “Read and I will give you some nuts or figs; I will give you a bit of honey.” With this stimulation the child tries to read. He does not work hard for the sake of reading itself, since he does not understand its value. He reads in order to obtain the food. Eating these delicacies is far more important to him than reading, and a greater good to him. Therefore, although he thinks of study as work and effort, he is willing to do it in order to get what he wants, a nut or a piece of candy. As the child grows and his mind improves, what was formerly important to him loses its importance, while other things become precious. The teacher will stimulate his desire for whatever he wants then. The teacher may say to the child. “Read and I will give you beautiful shoes or nice clothes.” Now the child will apply himself to reading for the sake of new clothes and not for the sake of study itself. He wants the garments more than the Torah. This coat will be the end which he hops to achieve by reading. As his intelligence improves still more and these things, too, become unimportant to him, he will set his desire upon something of greater value. Then his teacher may say to him: Learn this passage or this chapter, and I will give you a denar or two.” Again he will try to read in order to receive the money, since money is more important to him than study. The end which he seeks to achieve through his study is to acquire the money which has been promised him.

Hanukkah Gifts
BY NATASHA ROSENSTOCK

Jonathan Sarna, professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University, explains that American Jews used to exchange gifts only on Purim, but in the late 19th century there was a shift from Purim to Hanukkah. Christmas itself became magnified in the late 19th century when it became a national holiday in America. The Jewish custom shifted in imitation of Christmas, as the Christian holiday’s consumerism grew.

Sarna distinguishes the practice of giving Hanukkah gifts from its precursor — Hanukkah gelt (Yiddish for money, though now usually used to mean chocolate coins): “Hanukkah gelt is an old custom, well attested in Europe. Gift giving, by contrast, is new.”

The precise origin of Hanukkah gelt is unclear. The most popular explanation is that coins became a symbol of the holiday because the ancient Jews’ ability to make their own coins was a symbol of the independence they gained in the battles that the festival of lights commemorates.

In his book Holidays, History and Halakhah, Eliezer Segal argues that the earliest sources that mention gelt on Hanukkah are about students in Europe giving gelt to their teachers. Segal suggests that this practice was perhaps inspired by semantic and etymological connections between the Hebrew word Hanukkah (dedication) and the Hebrew word hinnukh (education).

According to Segal, some Jewish communities used the Hanukkah season to recognize religious teachers who, because of the prohibition of accepting money for teaching Torah, would normally not accept payment for their work. Segal suggests that students whose parents gave them money to pass on to their teachers eventually started to ask for their own share of gelt. This might be the source of the custom to give gelt to children on Hanukkah.

Inside Chanukah by Aryeh Pinchas Strickoff (p. 149-151)
Since the Torah was saved from being forgotten on Chanukah, Chanukah is a time when we increase our emphasis on Torah study. In this context, it became customary to show appreciation to our Torah educators during this time, so parents would send money to their children's rabbaim and teachers on Chanukah. They would do this by sending the money with their children, and the children would thus learn to appreciate the value of the Torah and those who teach it. Eventually, from this practice developed the custom of giving Chanukah gelt and other types of presents to the children themselves, to demonstrate to them how much their parents valued their Torah learning, ad the children would see how their parents gave them gelt or presents just as they gave gelt or presents to their teachers. (R' Yaakov Kamenetsky)

Halacha requires that one who lacks the funds for Chanukah candles go to the length of even selling his clothes in order to obtain the money necessary to purchase candles and perform the mitzvah. The minhag therefore developed to give tzedakah to the poor on Chanukah, to make sure they have enough money for the mitzvah...The Belzer Rebbe indicates that a reason we give chanukah gelt to children (and others) on Chanukah is to create a blurring of who is receiving money for what purpose. In other words, in order to avoid embarrassing the poor, Chanukah gelt is distributed to everyone (needy or not), so that is will be unclear who is receiving the money as tzedakah. (R' Yissachar Dov Rokeach)

Hanukkah Gelt, and Guilt by Lisa Bramen, Smithsonian Magazine 2009
Following the Civil War, Koenig writes, Hanukkah was rarely celebrated by American Jews, who considered it a minor festival. By the 1920s, though, it returned to popularity, paralleling Christmas in its increasing commercialism. American candy companies capitalized on this emerging market by introducing foil-wrapped chocolate coins, possibly inspired by the Dutch tradition of giving chocolate coins, called geld, to celebrate the birthday of Saint Nicholas on December 6. They also produced chocolate Macabee soldiers and latkes—I can't imagine why those didn't take off—but only gelt has stood the test of time, becoming an indispensable part of the Hanukkah celebration.