It's time to celebrate Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights that lasts eight days and nights in honor of a 2,000-year-old miracle in which light defeated darkness. This year Hanukkah began on December 7th.
The holiday has grown in popularity in modern times, but its origins date back to the turbulent centuries following the death of Alexander the Great, an ancient Greek leader who conquered the Persian Empire. Here's what you need to know about Hanukkah's origins and how it's celebrated, National Geographic reported.
After Alexander died in 323 B.C. a power struggle broke out among his generals that lasted more than a century. The Greco-Syrian Seleucid kings emerged victorious and ruled many of Alexander's former territories, including Judea (located in the central part of present-day Israel).
The Seleucids exerted influence through Hellenization - the spread of Greek art, architecture, and religion. The local communities, especially in Judea, opposed this.
In 175 BC the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes came to power and tried to force the Jews to assimilate. The Seleucids captured the holy temple in Jerusalem and desecrated it by erecting an altar to the Greek god Zeus. Antiochus forbade the Jewish faith and imposed the worship of the Greek gods. Some scholars believe that he believed that establishing a common religion could unite his fragmented empire, but his brutal methods thwarted these intentions.
Writing in the 1st century CE, the Jewish historian Josephus recorded the brutal sacking of Jerusalem and the treatment of Jewish dissidents who were "beaten with rods, and their bodies torn to pieces and crucified while they were alive and breathing. "And if any holy book or law was found, it was destroyed; and those who had it also perished miserably," writes the chronicler.
Horrified by the desecration of the temple and the cruelty to the Jewish people, a priest named Mattathias and his sons rebelled. After the death of Mattathias in 166 B.C. his son Judas Maccabeus ("the Hammer") took his father's place in the struggle and led the Jewish people to many victories over the Seleucids. In 164, Judah recaptured Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple, cleaning and rededicating it. The Maccabean rebellion, as it became known, continued and eventually drove the Seleucids out of Judea in 160.
Hanukkah, which means "dedication," commemorates the miracle of light that occurred when Judah rededicated the Temple to the Jewish god. According to the Talmud (one of the sacred texts of Judaism), the Seleucids left only one intact vial of oil, enough to light the Temple candlestick for one day. But it burned for eight days—enough time for the victorious Jews to secure more oil—and the miracle became the basis of a beloved holiday to thank God and celebrate the victory of light over darkness.
Although traditionally a fairly minor religious holiday, Hanukkah became popular in the 20th century due to its proximity to Christmas. Hanukkah, writes Tatiana Lichtenstein, director of the Shusterman Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, "offers an opportunity for Jews to participate in holiday celebrations filled with gift-giving and merriment without giving up their distinctive religious and cultural identity".
Today, Hanukkah is celebrated on the 25th day of Kislev (the ninth month of the Jewish calendar), which usually falls in late November to mid-December. For eight nights, candles are lit in the menorah, a candlestick with places for nine candles, one for each night, and one "service" candle called a shamash (Yiddish - “helper”). On each subsequent night, another candle is added and lit. During the lighting, people say special blessings and prayers. Songs are sung and gifts are exchanged in memory of the miracle in the Temple more than 2,000 years ago./BGNES
