For Jewish University of Alabama students next week, burning the midnight oil holds far more significance than staying up late to study.

The Jewish holiday Hanukkah takes place this year from Dec. 8 to Dec. 16, placing the University’s exam week squarely in the middle of the holiday period.

“I have my menorah, and I’m going to light the candles each night and sing the songs and say the prayers that go along with it, just like every other year,” said Ben Flax, a sophomore majoring in religious studies and programming vice president for the Hillel Jewish student union. “Really the only difference is I won’t be lighting the candles and singing the songs with my family.”

Sammi Silverman, a junior majoring in marketing and Hillel’s vice president of public relations, said her family will be the most significant absence in her on-campus observation.

“I miss being around my family during the holiday and unfortunately we can’t really push anything back because most of the holiday revolves around lighting the menorah at sunset each night of Hanukkah, but I get to open my presents when I get home,” she said. “Not being able to be around my family is the hardest part about being in school for Hanukkah. Just imagine yourself in school or taking a final on Christmas – that pretty much sums up the feeling for me, I imagine.”

Silverman said Hillel will be hosting a kickoff party, open to both Jewish and non-Jewish students, on Saturday, Dec. 8.

Amy Ackerman, a sophomore majoring in nonprofit management through the New College, said she would not be opposed to the University cutting the semester schedule off by a week to accommodate Hanukkah observation, but does not feel the trimming is necessary.

“Obviously being out of school to celebrate Christmas is very convenient for everyone else because they can be home with their families and relax,” she said. “I would love to celebrate Hanukkah for the full eight days at home, but the truth is my family is going to celebrate when we are all together, and it will be just the same for us.”

Flax said it would be nearly impossible for the University to schedule around Hanukkah because the Hebrew calendar is based upon the lunar cycle, as opposed to the solar-centric Gregorian calendar, which means Hanukkah’s eight-day period can begin anytime within November and December depending on the year.

“I’ve had a Hanukkah before Thanksgiving, where I got to spend three days of it with my family,” he said. “I’ve had a two-year Hanukkah, because it began at Christmas and stretched into January.”

Like Ackerman, Flax doesn’t view having Hanukkah off from school as too significant of a necessity. He said Hanukkah, despite the attention it receives, is a relatively minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, as it is rabbi-created and not outlined in the Torah.

Flax said he skips school and travels home to be with family on the more important, Torah-mandated holidays like Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (or Day of Atonement).

“On the very first day of each class, I always approach my professors and give them a piece of paper describing the days I will have to miss and what they’re all about,” Flax said. “Usually, they’re pretty good about helping me work around it. Plus, I’m a religious studies major, so the professors are usually understanding.”

“Hanukkah commemorates the victory of the Jews over the Syrio-Greeks in 162 B.C.E. and the rededication of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem,” Steven Jacobs, Aaron Aronov Chair of Judaic Studies, said.

Flax said observers light one menorah candle each day for eight days in memory of the one-day supply of oil that miraculously kept the temple lantern burning for eight days.

“Most people don’t know this, but there are actually two types of menorah,” Flax said. “The ones that stay in the synagogue all the time have seven candles, and the special ones for Hanukkah have nine candles, eight for each day of the holiday and one for lighting the other candles. And other than the fact that the one candle has to be on a different level than the eight others, really anything goes. Mine looks like a 1930s roadster.”