Thursday 7 December 2023

Hannukah

 

Hannukah



Hannukah, or Chanukah, often occurs around the same time as Christmas but this year the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights begins at nightfall on December 7th and finishes on December 15th. It celebrates a miracle that occurred in Jerusalem two centuries before the advent of Christianity.

The Syrian king Antiochus ruled the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC to 164 BC and persecuted the Jews of Judaea and Samaria. He forbade them worshipping God and erected a statue of himself in the temple of Jerusalem, ordering them to bow before it. They refused because it transgressed the commandment forbidding them to worship any other than God.

The Maccabees, a priestly Jewish family, led a revolt against Antiochus and his army and after three years they recaptured the city from the Syrians. The Temple had been violated and most of the ritual olive oil desecrated. 

They cleaned and rededicated the Temple by lighting the menorah using the one remaining sealed vial of holy oil. There was only enough to keep the menorah alight for one day but yet it burned for eight days, the exact time it took to press new oil. This miracle is recorded in the Talmud, the primary source of Jewish religious law, written about 600 years later.

To celebrate this wondrous miracle the candles of the menorah, the central candle, called the shamash or attendant, placed centrally and higher than the rest, is lit and used to light the others.

On the first night, the shamash lights one candle. On the second night two candles are lit with the attendant and so on until by the eighth night all eight candles are burning.

Hannukah is a time of thanksgiving, remembrance and celebration. It will be a time of great difficulty and fearfulness this year for many Jews across the world.

18 comments:

  1. Oh if only there could be peace on earth. What a gift that would be!

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  2. I can think of a former world leader who would have liked people to worship a statue of himself.

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    1. I can think of past and present who would like this, too.

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  3. I had heard of Hannukah but did not know the full story behind it. Thank you for sharing this Janice. I absoluted LoVeD the pumpkin mice tales in the last post ... just playing catch up sorry. 😉

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  4. You are quite right that anti-Semitism has made everyone fearful, even in communities that have felt very safe since the late 1940s. Even in Melbourne, the finest community on the planet (imho) has guards on the schools, synagogues, kosher butcher shops, hospitals and summer holiday resorts.
    I can only hope the families getting together around the Chanukah lamps tonight will be strengthened by the lights.

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  5. That is the most beautiful menorah I have ever seen. And I too wish that we could all have peace and get along together.

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    1. If only we could all recognise each other's humanity.

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  6. My friend and neighbour Yvonne, one of a very small number of Jews in Aberdeen, will be celebrating Hannukah this year and also experiencing the fearfulness acknowledged in this post.

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    1. How would Christians feel if they were similarly persecuted?

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  7. Thank you for this. I did not know the story behind it.

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  8. My thoughts are with all those who celebrate Hannukah today wherever you are . I also pray for anyone else who is persecuted for their faith.

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  9. In spite of having worked for a Jewish boss and knowing about Hannukah, I'm afraid to say I was ignorant as to its origins. Thank you for yet another educational post Janice! xxx

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  10. I like the origins of belief. x x x

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