Happy Chanukah!

The Story of Chanukah

Chanukah is an eight-day Jewish festival of light that occurs in December. It celebrates the triumph of freedom over oppression, of spirit over matter, of light over darkness.

More than twenty-one centuries ago, Israel was ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who sought to forcefully Hellenize the people of Israel, banning ritual circumcision, Shabbat observance, and Torah study, by penalty of death.

A small band of passionately faithful Jews, calling themselves the Maccabees, stood up against the Greeks — one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove them from the land, and reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

The Greeks, however, determined as they were to eradicate Jewish faith, had defiled and contaminated the Holy Temple, and the Jewish people devoted themselves to cleansing, restoration, and rededication the sacred sanctuary.

When the victors sought to light the Temple’s menorah, they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks. Miraculously, the one-day supply burned for eight days, until new oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity.

Chanukah Observances

To commemorate and publicize these miracles, the sages instituted the festival of Chanukah. At the heart of the celebration is the nightly menorah lighting: a single flame on the first night, two on the second night, and so on, until the eighth night of Chanukah, when all eight lights are kindled.

“The Chanukah Lights remind us that illumination begins at home, within ourselves and our family, by increasing in our good and kind acts, just as the Chanukah Lights are kindled in growing numbers from day to day. But though it begins at home, it does not stop there. When we kindle the Chanukah Lights, we are expressly meant to illuminate the “outside,” alluding to our duty to bring light to those who still walk in darkness.”

Other Chanukah customs include eating foods fried in oil — latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiot (doughnuts); playing with the dreidel (a spinning top on which are inscribed four Hebrew letters); and the giving of Chanukah gelt — gifts of money — to children. 

For much more on Chanukah, please visit chanukah.org.