Once, parents were responsible for teaching their children the 3 “R’s”: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic. It was a shame that they didn’t also teach them the fourth R: financial Responsibility, but we can make up for that today now that schools have taken over the first 3 R’s.
Chanukah, when even the youngest child may receive Chanukah gelt (gelt is the Yiddish word for money; Chanukah gelt given out by parents and guests after lighting the candles is the traditional children’s present rather than gifts), provides parents with a timely opportunity to teach their children about money and good financial habits.
The media and advertising convey the message that if you spend money, you will be happy. For this reason, it is even more important for us to teach our children financial responsibility from an early age. 
Outside the home, impressionable children are confronted with uneducational messages regarding money. The media and advertising convey the message that if you spend money, you will be happy. For this reason, it is even more important for us to teach our children financial responsibility from an early age.
Where Does it Come From?
The first thing that a child needs to know is where money comes from. To a child receiving Chanukah gelt or a gift from a grandparent, it seems as if money is always available. When their parents run out of money, they simply go to a small machine in the wall, punch in a few numbers and take out money. A young child doesn’t understand that this is not “free” money, and that there has to be something in their parents’ bank account to cover it. Explain it to them.
Children also must be taught that the money we receive and work for is allocated to us by the Almighty and should be used for positive purposes as well as to provide for our needs.
For this reason, the first thing to tell our children to do when they receive Chanukah gelt is to give charity. The ten per cent donation known as maaser in Jewish law is appropriate—not too hard to part with and not too little to be significant. Then, we should talk to them about saving. Ask your child what he would like to use his money for. If he wants to buy something that costs more than what he received, explain that he can save until he has enough. He can perform some special household or other chores to earn more money. Children need to understand that money is earned through honest, hard work.
With older children, long-term savings can be discussed. For example, some teenagers will do a paper route while they are still at school, and this money can be deposited in a personal bank account. The child will then get used to putting his earnings in the bank and will also learn about the concept of compound interest, watching his money grow.
Why Chanukah Gelt?
The concept of giving Chanukah gelt is conveyed in a passage in Code of Jewish Law, the Shulchan Aruch, which states: "It is forbidden to derive any benefit [other than remembering the miracle, ed.] from the lights of the Chanukah Menorah...[not] even to use the light to count your money."
Perhaps the phrase, "count your money," is given as an example because Chanukah has the same root as the Hebrew word chinuch, education. Chanukah celebrates the Jewish People’s prevailing over the Greek Hellenists, who sought their spiritual, rather than physical, destruction.
Jews at that time were tempted to copy Hellenistic culture, based on consumerism and instant physical gratification. Those temptations are as much of a threat to our existence today as Hellenism was to the Jewish people then. The symbol of this way of life is money and the temptation to spend our lives trying to make as much money as possible is a tangible one.
We give Chanukah gelt not only to make our children happy, but to educate them in the importance of giving charity and doing good deeds. They should be taught that the pursuit of money for its own sake is not the point of our existence. Rather, the reason G-d gives us money is to use it for positive purposes that will benefit them and other people.
Teaching our children good money habits is a good way to beat back the forces of the modern day Hellenists and internalize the message of Chanukah.