Hanukka (also spelled Chanuka and other ways) comes on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev. While the English date varies, the Hebrew date remains the same. Eight days long, the holiday concludes on Tevet 2.
Hanukka means “dedication.” The holiday is a celebration of the date when the Temple in Jerusalem was recovered, cleaned, and rededicated to God. Hanukka is also called the Festival of Lights for that is the main observance of the holiday.
In 165 BCE a heroic group of Jewish warriors called the Maccabbes triumphed after a long war against the Syrian-Greek king, Antiochus Epiphanes. Despite the fact that Hanukka recalls a military victory over an enemy who wanted to eradicate the Jewish faith, Hanukka celebrate the lights, not the conquest.
As related by the Talmud, the Maccabees recovered a single jar of oil that had remained intact throughout the years of the Helenizers still retaining the seal of the Kohen Gadol, high priest, from many years before. Expecting the oil to last for a day it burned for eight nights, enough time to manufacture oil to keep the Lamp of God burning uninterrupted.
No comments:
Post a Comment