A radio commercial on Voice of Israel Radio begins with an obviously freezing man singing in a shivering voice the famous Chanukah hymn, "Maoz Tzur" - at which point the narrator interrupts and asks, "Cold in your feet? Try buying a Carmel carpet!"
The next commercial, coincidentally, features another man trying to sing the same song but stumbling over the words - and yet another narrator interrupts and says, "Can't see? Go to Opticana for new glasses!"
Thus is Chanukah enlisted in modern Israeli ad campaigns to sell various goods. Those who came up with the campaigns, however, might not have been aware that Chanukah itself is the very epitome of a public-relations campaign, instituted by the Sages.
Candles are lit each night of the eight-day holiday for one reason: pirsumei nisa - to publicize the miracles.
Israel's Education Ministry features a [Hebrew] webpage dealing with the main Chanukah commandment: publicizing the Divine miracles of the holiday. The program outlines the four questions that any ad campaign addresses, and explains how they are implemented in the Chanukah campaign. The four elements are:
1. What is to be advertised? The Sages of that generation [some 150 years before the Common Era] instituted eight days of joy and praise to G-d, featuring nightly candle-lighting, to publicize and glorify the miracles of the victory over the Greeks and that of a Holy Temple flask of oil lasting for eight days.
2. What is the target audience? Jewish Law states that everyone is obligated in the commandment, even children who are barely of school age, and even one who is blind and cannot see the candles.
3. What is the main message or slogan? The Sages emphasized the beneficent and miraculous nature of G-d's intervention, while minimizing human courage and prowess. Matathias and his son Judah led the military fight against the Greeks, but it was mainly their spiritual courage in refusing to give in to the Greeks' religious oppression that is lauded.
4. How to achieve maximum exposure and high ratings: The Sages instituted the candle-lighting at a time and place that would be seen by the maximum number of people: not before sundown, and not after people have left the streets; neither below or above a certain height; ideally, outside the front entrance to one's home; and not in a place where one normally lights candles, so that it will be clearly noticeable that these lights are for Chanukah.
A major publicizer of websites publicizing a wide variety of information on the Chanukah holiday is Jacob Richman's list of Chanukah websites.
The next commercial, coincidentally, features another man trying to sing the same song but stumbling over the words - and yet another narrator interrupts and says, "Can't see? Go to Opticana for new glasses!"
Thus is Chanukah enlisted in modern Israeli ad campaigns to sell various goods. Those who came up with the campaigns, however, might not have been aware that Chanukah itself is the very epitome of a public-relations campaign, instituted by the Sages.
Candles are lit each night of the eight-day holiday for one reason: pirsumei nisa - to publicize the miracles.
Israel's Education Ministry features a [Hebrew] webpage dealing with the main Chanukah commandment: publicizing the Divine miracles of the holiday. The program outlines the four questions that any ad campaign addresses, and explains how they are implemented in the Chanukah campaign. The four elements are:
1. What is to be advertised? The Sages of that generation [some 150 years before the Common Era] instituted eight days of joy and praise to G-d, featuring nightly candle-lighting, to publicize and glorify the miracles of the victory over the Greeks and that of a Holy Temple flask of oil lasting for eight days.
2. What is the target audience? Jewish Law states that everyone is obligated in the commandment, even children who are barely of school age, and even one who is blind and cannot see the candles.
3. What is the main message or slogan? The Sages emphasized the beneficent and miraculous nature of G-d's intervention, while minimizing human courage and prowess. Matathias and his son Judah led the military fight against the Greeks, but it was mainly their spiritual courage in refusing to give in to the Greeks' religious oppression that is lauded.
4. How to achieve maximum exposure and high ratings: The Sages instituted the candle-lighting at a time and place that would be seen by the maximum number of people: not before sundown, and not after people have left the streets; neither below or above a certain height; ideally, outside the front entrance to one's home; and not in a place where one normally lights candles, so that it will be clearly noticeable that these lights are for Chanukah.
A major publicizer of websites publicizing a wide variety of information on the Chanukah holiday is Jacob Richman's list of Chanukah websites.