Kid Lit Review of “The Hanukkah Magic of Nate Gadol” by Arthur A. Levine

Hanukkah, also called the Festival of Lights, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates a miracle from the second century BCE. King Antiochus, ruler of Judea (in present-day Israel) forbade the people there from practicing Judaism. He tried to force the Jews to follow Greek beliefs and to assimilate into Greek culture. When they resisted, he ordered his troops to destroy their holiest site, the Temple of Jerusalem.

The Jews, forming a ragtag band led by Judah the Maccabee, battled for some three years for independence and the freedom to practice their own religion. Finally in 164 B.C. the Maccabees defeated King Antiochus and his troops.

When the Maccabees returned to the ransacked temple, they found only one jar of oil – enough to light the temple’s lampstand for one day. (The lampstand, now called a menorah, had six branches and seven lamps as mandated by God in Exodus 25:31-40.) Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days, enough time for the Maccabees to find and consecrate more oil.

Reconstruction of the menorah of the Temple in Jerusalem, created by the Temple Institute of Israel, via Wikipedia

(That is why the Hanukkah menorah differs from the original lampstand in that it has nine candles: one for each of the eight days of the miracle, and one to light the rest.) 

The holiday celebrates the military triumph, the restored freedom to worship, and the miracle of the oil lasting for so much longer than expected, helping Jewish tradition to survive.

One of the games children play during Hanukkah is spinning the dreidel, a simple game of chance. The story is that the dreidel game was developed during the period of the reign of King Antiochus. Jews continued to study the Bible and their laws in secret, but brought along a dreidel so if the authorities came, they could make it seem as if they were gathering to play this gambling game, not engaging in illegal Bible study.

The driedel is a top now showing letters on each of its four faces. The letters, Nun-Gimel-Hay-Shin, were placed there as an abbreviation of the sentence “nes gadol haya sham,” meaning “a great miracle happened there.”

This phrase is the source of the name “Nate Gadol” given to Levine’s hero, and of the nature of his magic, which is to make things last longer than they were intended, just like the oil for the lamp in the synagogue.

And there’s even more to the “pour-quoi” aspect of this story. (A pourquoi story is a fictional narrative that explains why something is the way it is; for example, why a tiger has stripes.) Levine wanted to offer a more appealing explanation for why Jews started to give presents on Hanukkah, rather than that of merchants just taking advantage of another marketing opportunity.

In Levine’s tale, the gifts are part of Nate’s strategy to stretch resources, just like the miracle of the oil, to help people in need. Sometimes he even partners with Santa; Levine explains, “The two knew each other from way, way back.” In this story, both the Irish O’Malley family and the Jewish Glaser family have better holidays thanks to the collaboration of Nate Gadol and Santa.

Illustrations by Kevin Hawkes play with perspective, with lots of gold dust to accentuate the idea of miracles.

Evaluation: This book aimed at readers 4-8 doesn’t give much background on the holiday of Hanukkah, but, according to the Author’s Note, aims to address “the challenge of being a Jewish child during Christmas.” While Hanukkah celebrations have their own rituals, great stories, lights, festivities, and even gifts, Levine apparently thought a Santa-like figure would help Jewish kids feel more equivalency during the Christmas season.

More importantly, however, Levine includes a message about helping each other out with empathy and generosity, emphasizing the best gift of all – human kindness.

Rating: 4/5

First paperback edition published by Candlewick, 2023