Hanukkah (Chanukah)

Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire which included Judea. He promised the Jews that he would not interfere with their religion but he wanted his statue to be placed on the Temple Mount. The Jews had a strong aversion to graven images and offered instead to name all their first-born male children Alexander.

When Alexander died, Egypt and Syria fought over Judea. The Syrians won and their ruler Antiochus IV Ephiphanes was unstable. His people nicknamed him "madman." He plundered the temples of the Jews and sold women and children into slavery. He erected a statue of Zeus on the altar of burnt offerings and sacrificed a hog on it. He then splattered the blood within the Holy of Holies. He followed this with the enactment of decrees against Judaism. He forbade them to worship properly in the Temple and made them build altars and make sacrifices to Greek gods. They could not observe the Sabbath. The Jews had made some concessions but these rules contradicted the beliefs they held sacred.

Some of the Jews openly defied him. One was a woman, Chana, who had seven sons. Antiochus had them arrested. He tried to make them eat the flesh of swine and when they refused, each was tortured and killed. He tried to make the youngest son bow to him but he refused. He had the child killed. Chana was also killed.

The execution of Chana and her sons become a symbol of the oppression of Antiochus. In a small town outside of Jerusalem, a priest named Mattathias saw a Greek offering a pig on an altar in the village square. He killed the man. Mattathias, his five sons, and a group of rebels fled into the hills. This began the fight against Antiochus. Mattathias' son Judas Maccabbee was appointed their leader. The rebel group became known as the Maccabbees.

Antiochus sent soldiers from Jerusalem to locate the rebels and kill them. Instead of the Greeks winning the battle, the Maccabees defeated them and ran them out of Jerusalem.

The Jews then set about repairing the damage that had been done to the Holy Temple. Stones which had been defiled by the blood of swine were removed and the floors and walls were scrubbed. The Holy Temple was ready to be rededicated. There was only one jar of olive oil left in the Temple that had not been defiled. It would take eight days to gather a new supply of pure oil. The High Priest was determined to light the menorah, if only for day. To everyone's surprise the menorah remained lit for eight days until a new supply of oil was attained.

The following year, the leaders declared that every year Jews should celebrate the miracle of Hanukkah with prayers of thanksgiving for the military victory.

Hanukkah is celebrated by the lighting of the menorah on each of the eight nights of the holiday. It is also a time when gifts are exchanged.