Chanukah, also spelled Hanukkah

A tradition ascribes the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah to the kindling of the Temple menorah. It states that on entering the Temple, the Hasmoneans discovered that the Greeks had defiled all the oil, except for one cruse, which contained enough oil to keep the menorah burning for only one day. A miracle, however, happened and they kindled from it for eight days; in its commemoration a festival lasting eight days was instituted for future generations.

Because of their importance to the story, celebration, light, miracle, temple and dreidel are icons of Chanukah.

Long Story

As Greek society “progressed” it began to subtly question the position of reverence accorded to the gods, and eventually concluded that people were capable of being the equal of, if not superior to, the gods. With time, through the customs, forms of worship and festivals surrounding the gods, the philosophy developed that the true masters of the world were human, and not gods.4 {Any similarities to today?}

The golden age of Greek Hellenism was the fourth and fifth centuries BCE. Athens rose above her competitor Sparta as the center of the “enlightened” culture that would eventually conquer the known world. It was this same culture that would ultimately clash with Judaism at the time of Chanukah.

In 338 BCE Philip of Macedon invaded and absorbed the Greek states into the Macedonian empire. Two years later he died and his son Alexander assumed the throne. It was5 the conquering forces of Alexander that first brought Hellenism to Jerusalem and the Jewish people.

The Jewish people were a people who revered education, literacy and deep thinking, as were the Greeks. They should have been soul mates in an otherwise darkened world. However, the Jews became the Greeks harshest enemies; they rejected its heart and soul – its culture. For all its beauty, Greek society had numerous prominent aspects that are abhorrent to most people today, and were certainly abhorrent to the Jews of two thousand years ago. Infanticide,6 pederasty (child molesting),7 adultery and institutionalized prostitution are examples of Greek societal norms that the Jews could not accept. {Any similarities to today?}

The Jewish people are, and were, a people that place the utmost value on human life and that consider the relationship between a husband and wife and parents and children to be holy. Such a people just couldn’t tolerate a society in which infanticide and pedophilia as well as the advocation of adultery and institutionalized prostitution existed.

The singularity of the Jews, holding to one God rather than gods, who acknowledged Jerusalem as the Holy City where stood the Temple of their one true God, invisible and transcendent, who refused to assume His place in the pantheons of the empire, caused them to group themselves in a quarter of the cities where they lived. The “ghetto” was a voluntary reality hundreds of years before the term was coined. However, convinced that all that was not Greek was barbarian, the Greeks resented rival claims to superiority or privilege on the part of a people they considered politically and culturally undistinguished. A collision between these two proud and dissimilar mentalities could only be a matter of time. (Flannery, Anguish of the Jews, 1985)

Further, the Greeks said the function of a human being, above all else, is the unique ability to use language and to reason. Since happiness is an outgrowth of fulfilling one’s function, the happy man is the man of reason and logic. They saw the human mind as the ultimate tool to fathom the will of nature. The Jews see the human mind as a gift to use to fathom the will of the Creator. The Greek world view is nature and man centered; The Jewish world view is God centered.

And that is a big difference.

However, as has been frequently repeated in history when peoples mix geographically, assimilation was only natural. Despite the many ways Hellenism and Judaism were at seemingly unreconcilable odds with one another, powerful political and social forces were at work that made Hellenism attractive to many Jews.8 “The only way to gain entry into the new system of power lay in the adoption of Greek culture.” (Boardman, et al, Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World, 1991) And was there anything really so objectionable with the Greek emphasis on beauty, athletics, the arts, and education? {Any similarities to today?}

After Alexander the Great died, his kingdom was fractioned into thirds.9 Under the Seleucids, harsh decrees were issued against the practice of Judaism in a long-standing and continuing effort to force the Jews to embrace Greek culture, gods and practices. The study of Torah and the observance of Judaism brought the risk of death. The dual forces of Hellenist assimilation and Greek oppression posed a great threat to the continuity of biblical and traditional Jewish life.

“Jerusalem, the spiritual center of Judaism, with its Temple, great Torah academies and large Jewish population, was the natural target for the fiercest enforcement of the anti-Jewish decrees. To drive their point home the Greeks built a gymnasium, one of the central symbols of Greek culture, right next to the Temple. Eventually they would insist that a statue of Zeus be placed in the Temple itself. For those reasons Mattisyahu, the scholarly and righteous scion of the Hasmonean family, moved his family out of Jerusalem to Modiin. But the reign of terror followed them there too.” (Apisdorf, Chanukah, 2000) When confronted with the command to sacrifice to idols in front of the community of Modiin, Mattisyahu instead killed a renegade Jew who began to so sacrifice, killed the general and soldiers, and fled to the desert with several like believers, ca 167 BCE.10

Happening. Mattisyahu died a year later and his son Judah continued to lead the family and the revolt at his father’s deathbed request. A brilliant tactician and leader, Judah organized a fighting force known as the Maccabees. It was under the inspired leadership of Judah Maccabee that the Jews were able to successfully confront the Greeks and eventually recapture the Temple which Antiochus Epiphanes had dedicated to Jupiter Olympus. Judah Maccabee, after defeating Lysias, entered Jerusalem and purified the Temple.11 The altar that had been defiled was demolished and a new one was built. Judah then made new holy vessels (among them a menorah, an altar for incense, a table, and curtains) and set the 25th of Kislev as the date for the rededication of the Temple. The day coincided with the third anniversary of the proclamation of the restrictive edicts of Antiochus Epiphanes in which he had decreed that idolatrous sacrifices should be offered on a platform erected upon the altar. The altar was to be consecrated with the renewal of the daily sacrificial service, accompanied by song, the playing of musical instruments, the chanting of Hallel (lZh, the general term designating Psalms 113–118), and the offering of sacrifices. The celebrations lasted for eight days and Judah decreed that they be designated as days of rejoicing for future generations. (Encyclopedia Judaica)

A tradition ascribes the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah to the kindling of the Temple menorah. It states that on entering the Temple, the Hasmoneans discovered that the Greeks had defiled all the oil, except for one cruse, which contained enough oil to keep the menorah burning for only one day. A miracle, however, happened and they kindled from it for eight days; in its commemoration a festival lasting eight days was instituted for future generations. (Encyclopedia Judaica)

The Story of Chanukah has been told in many ways, both historical, halachahly, and allegorically. A very few of these are:

So why do we celebrate Chanukah on Chanuka' (i.e. on the 25th of Kislev)?

1. In the book of Maccabees we are told how that very same Temple was later defiled by the Greeks; and then re-dedicated by the Hasmoneans - on that very same day!

   "Now upon the same day that the strangers profaned the temple, on the very same day it was cleansed again, even the five and twentieth day of the same month, which is Casleu. 6 And they kept the eight days with gladness, as in the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long afore they had held the feast of the tabernacles, when as they wandered in the mountains and dens like beasts. 7 Therefore they bare branches, and fair boughs, and palms also, and sang psalms unto him that had given them good success in cleansing his place. 8 They ordained also by a common statute and decree, That every year those days should be kept of the whole nation of the Jews." 2 Macabees 10:5-8.

2. " . . . from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day the foundation of Adonai's temple was laid, consider this:" Haggai 2:18 CJB. Here we find that the construction of the second Temple began on the 24th day (or 25th). And when we study the prophecies that Chagai delivered on that special date, we find that he speaks of great hopes for economic prosperity (as they rebuild the Temple), as well as predictions of great military victories over mighty enemies. Could this date and theme simply be 'coincidental'?

3. The First Winter: In Masechet Avoda Zara (see 8b), the Gemara records a very interesting Midrash about Adam ha-Rishon's [Adam the First] first winter. First, the Mishna notes various pagan holidays when it is forbidden to conduct business (with idol worshippers). Then, the Gemara explains the origin of some of these holidays. In regard to the origin of Saturna and Kalanda, the Gemara records the following story. As you read it, note how it relates to the time of year of Chanuka.

   “Kalanda is the eight days after the winter solstice, and Saturna is eight days beforehand. The Rabbis taught: 'As Adam ha-Rishon [created in Tishrei (first month of civil year; seventh month of biblical year)] noticed [during the first three months of his life] how the days slowly became shorter and shorter - He said: Woe to me, because of my sin [in Gan Eden] the world is getting darker [as soon there would be no more light] and will return to 'tohu va-vohu' - and this must be my 'death sentence'. [Instead of accepting this imminent fate, Adam ha-Rishon overcame his depression] and took upon himself to fast, pray and repent.

   “After eight days, Adam noticed that the days indeed had begun to lengthen. Realizing that this is 'minhago shel olam' [the way of the world], he made a celebration for eight days [giving thanksgiving to the Almighty]. The next year, he made these days holidays. He [Adam] had good intentions [when making these holidays; however] they [his offspring] turned them into holidays of idol worship” (Avoda Zara 8a, see also Rambam Hilchot Avoda Zara - Chapter One).

   It should be noted that in the Roman Empire, a popular pagan holiday was celebrated at the end of December, which (according to historians) later evolved into Christmas.

   This Midrash already points to a thematic connection between Chanuka (an eight day celebration) and this time of year (the winter solstice). It should not surprise us that Adam ha-Rishon noticed this winter solstice, and properly related this phenomenon to God Himself; while his offspring (living in a pantheistic culture) instituted a pagan ritual to mark this critical time of the solar year.

   However, this Midrash also alludes to a human psychological phenomena as well, i.e., what we call winter depression. [It is well known that lack of sunlight leads to depression.] Adam ha-Rishon did not simply give up [or get drunk at a New Year's party] at this depressing time in his life; instead, he transformed it into a time for introspection and repentance, with hope for a better future. Note in this regard that Chanukah is also referred to as the Festival of Lights.

   Thus we have found the 'roots' of Chanuka in the very story of Creation.

4. Further, the 25th word (in Hebrew) of Scripture is light, created during Creation.