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ANSWERS: 3
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There aren't any real official colours for Chanukah. The colours of blue and white are traditional Jewish colours and you can see that they were adopted by the state of Israel. The colours come from the tallit, the prayer shawl that Jews traditionally wear. (The specific blue colour is called tchelet in Hebrew.) The silver (or gold) would likely come from the chanukiah, the eight leafed candleholder used for celebrating the holiday.
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Chanukah does not have any official colours. It would seem that people associate white and blue with Judaism (considering that these are the Israeli colours) and naturally connect this to Chanukah. The silver probably crept in because most Chanukah menoras are silver.
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The Flag of Israel has two blue stripes and a blue Star of David against a white background. An early Zionist poem explains that the color white symbolizes great faith; blue the appearance of the firmament. Because of its association with the State of Israel, blue has become very popular in contemporary Jewish design. Modern tallitot (prayer shawl), especially those used by Religious Zionist Jews, often have blue stripes on a white background. In the Torah (the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), the Israelites were commanded to put fringes (tzitzit) on the corners of their tallitot, and to weave within these fringes a “twisted thread of blue (tekhelet).” In ancient days, this blue thread was made from a dye extracted from a Mediterranean snail (or cuttlefish) called the hilazon. Since blue and white are the color of the flag of Israel, these colors are used as the official colors of Chanukkah and most everything associated with Judaism.
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