Interesting... By the end of reading your article and the linked one about the correct way to spell חנוכה in English I'd got no idea how I spelled it myself, and had to search in my sent-mail folder to find out. :o)

I always perceived "Chanukah" as the commonest British spelling and "Hanukkah", or "Ḥannukah" as the commonest USAn; however this is purely my perception so may be wrong. (It's also difficult to easily prove or disprove; Google UK's search pages from the UK doesn't seem particularly specific, and I suspect Jews will spell it the way they were brought up with (i.e. "Chanukah" in the UK) whereas non-Jews will use what they see elsewhere ("Hannukah").
Michael Grant | Homepage | 12.13.06 - 12:03 pm | #

"אצלנו בכפר טודרא שבלב הרי האטלס,
היו לוקחים את הילד שהגיע לגיל חמש;
כתר פרחים עושים לו, אצלנו בכפר טודרא,
כתר בראש מלבישים לו, שהגיע לגיל חמש.
כל הילדים ברחוב חגיגה גדולה עורכים לו,
שהגיע לגיל חמש, אצלנו בכפר טודרא.
ואז את חתן השמחה שהגיע לגיל חמש,
אצלנו בכפר טודרא, מכניסים לבית הכנסת
וכותבים על לוח של עץ בדבש מאלף ועד תו
את כל האותיות בדבש ואומרים לו: חביבי לקק!
והיתה התורה שבפה מתוקה כמו טעם של דבש,
אצלנו בכפר טודרא שבלב הרי האטלס".
Anonymous | 12.13.06 - 12:34 pm | #

Anonymous -

I'm familiar with the custom to put honey on the Hebrew letters for those children just learning to read. They did something similar in my kids' school.

But that is certainly different than putting honey on the palate - both in the way it is done, and its purpose as well.
Dave (Balashon) | Homepage | 12.13.06 - 1:38 pm | #

Perhaps the connection between rubbing the date in the palate and dedication/initiation is not through instruction, but direct. Whatever the significance of that ceremony was it certainly seems to be some sort of dedication/initiation rite for the newborn child.
lonnie | Homepage | 12.13.06 - 11:50 pm | #

Lonnie - That could be, and that's the way it seems from the Moslem text. But it seems to me that maybe that was simply how they fed babies back at the time, and it wasn't that ceremonial.

It could be that I'm not going to get a good answer until I see Fleischer. Anyone have access?
Dave (Balashon) | Homepage | 12.14.06 - 12:48 am | #

Another Arabic meaning of Hunkah (n) is experience, wisdom, knowledge.
والحُنْكةُ: السِّنّ والتجربة والبصر بالأُمور
Muhannak (adj) is expert...
kevin | 12.14.06 - 5:09 pm | #

Anon: beautiful song; is the הבררה הטבעית version a cover?
Joel | Homepage | 12.26.06 - 4:43 am | #