Chanukah About
PJA Proud
Limmud 2.0
Holiday Guide These pages contain sacred literature. Please do not deface or discard.
Chanukah
The first Chanukah was celebrated in Jerusalem on the 25th of Kislev, 165 B.C.E. The story begins during the reign of Alexander the Great who conquered Syria, Egypt and the land of Israel. The conquerors’ rule was relatively gentle, and citizens under Greek control were allowed to practice their own ways of life as long as they paid their taxes. The Greeks established theaters, gymnasia and Temples to their many gods. They introduced fashions, manners, language and foods that had been unknown to the Jews. Many Jews were attracted to these novelties, and adopted aspects of Greek culture to their own lives. More than a century later a successor of Alexander, a Syrian-Greek Selucid named Antiochus IV, was in control of the region. He fanned the flames of discontent between Jews who had become assimilated into Greek culture, known as Hellenists, and those who were more traditional. Antiochus oppressed the Jews severely, declaring himself a god, requiring Jews to worship idols formed in his image and banning the core Jewish practices of Shabbat, circumcision, kashrut and Torah study. In the small village of Modi’in, the Syrian soldiers were in the midst of ordering Jews to sacrifice a pig in compliance with the edicts of Antiochus. As one Jew was about to comply, an old Kohen by the name of Mattathias (Mattityahu) rose up and killed his fellow Jew. Mattityahu tore down the idol and called upon the faithful to join him and his five sons in revolt against the Hellenists and ruling Syrians. Thus began a guerilla war against the conquerors that lasted for two years (some sources say three years). Judah Maccabee - Judah the Hammer - led the band of fighters after the death of his father, and the fighting farmers of Judea became known as the Maccabees. The Maccabees recaptured the Temple mount in Jerusalem only to find it had been brutally desecrated. The Temple was cleansed and the altar rebuilt. According to the Talmud, there was only enough ritually pure oil remaining in the Temple to last for one day. The oil was lit and a messenger sent to obtain pure oil. Instead of burning out after only one day, the oil lasted for eight days, long enough for the messenger to return to refill the cherished menorah.