Why give gelt on Chanukah?
Chocolate gelt Along with latkes and sufganyiot, chocolate gelt is one of the treats that signals the arrial of Chanukah. But the original custom of giving gelt was not about candy but about actual money. Why is that? I did some research to refresh my memory and found two primary reasons offered. One was a reminder not to use the lights of the menorah to distinguish coins. The other was the concept of using money for holy purposes. But as I thought it about it more, I realized there's another reason that fits the Chanukah theme perfectly. The concept of the coin of the realm. We see that idea come up in the Midrashic exchange between David and Avigayil in Megilla 14b: מוֹרֵד בַּמַּלְכוּת הוּא, וְלָא צְרִיךְ לְמֵידַּיְינֵיהּ. אָמְרָה לוֹ: עֲדַיִין שָׁאוּל קַיָּים וְלֹא יָצָא טִבְעֲךָ בָּעוֹלָם. אָמַר לָהּ: ״בָּרוּךְ טַעְמֵךְ וּבְרוּכָה אָתְּ אֲשֶׁר כְּלִיתִנִי [הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה] מִבֹּא בְדָמִים״. A few years ago, Rabbi Yosef Karmel of the Eretz Hemda Institute spoke at the YILC a
