II) Katovess10
The custom of Hanukkah katovess is first attributed to Rabbi Israel Isserlein (Austria, 1390-1460), after which the word is used frequently in Hebrew and Yiddish until the twentieth century. Unfortunately, neither the etymology nor the pronunciation of the word are clear and suggested etymologies run from Greek to Russian to Polish to French to German to Anglo-Saxon!11 But the meaning of the word is clear; Hanukkah katovess were word games and riddles which were especially popular at the festive meals of Hanukkah and they were frequently connected to the Hanukkah candles. The following examples are taken from Leket Yosher, in which R. Yosef (Yozl) Ben Moshe of Hoechstaedt describes the customs of his beloved teacher, R. Israel Isserlein:1
2A) “Remove my cloak (beged: bet-gimel-dalet) from me, then you will find my number.” Yozl (yod-vav-zayin-lamed) in gematria is 53; bet-gimel-dalet in gematria is 9. If you remove 9 from 53 you get 44, which is the number of candles needed for the eight nights of Hanukkah including the shamash!
B) “If the servant falls you must attend to him; but if the master falls, no one comes to set him up.” This riddle refers to the laws of the Hanukkah candles. If the shamash or “servant” goes out, you must relight it. This is because you are not allowed to derive benefit from the Hanukkah candles, so if you inadvertently use the light, you are, so to speak, using the shamash. But if the “master” or Hanukkah candle goes out you don't have to relight it because once you lit it, you have fulfilled the mitzvah.12a
C) “V’shar Shmaryah yehi ram shorasho” was written by Shmerel or Shmaryah. It means “Shmaryah sang, may his root (or origin) be elevated,” which sounds like nonsense. But Shmerel was really quite clever, since this katovess is a palindrome which reads the same in both directions!
D) The last katovess we shall quote was written once again by Yosef of Hoechstaedt:
“Tavta Yosef la’ad. Gam atz zan harash kahok.” It means “You treated Joseph well forever, he also quickly fed the poor according to law.” This katovess not only describes the activities of Joseph in Egypt and hints at the name of its author, but manages to use every letter of the Hebrew alphabet once!
Hanukkah katovess are no longer in vogue, but it would be good to revive this beautiful custom which flourished in Germany and Eastern Europe for at least four hundred years.13