Hanukkah
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Pictured: Hanukkah being celebrated in Jerusalem

Origins of Hanukkah

The traditional Jewish celebration of Hanukkah was established as a time of remembrance for the Jews of independence, divine miracles, and rededication. The first holiday celebrated the rededication of the altar for eight days with worship and sacrifices by the newly independent Jewish people. The rededication happened three years after the Temple was taken by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who was a Greek leader who had desecrated the Jewish Temple, much to the dismay of the Jewish people. It continues to be an important remembrance of Jewish culture and a part of Jerusalem’s religious history.

Rise of the Hasmonean Kingdom

Hanukkah was established by Judah Maccabee and his brothers under the Hasmonean kingdom. The deuterocanonical book of 1 Maccabees records the political state of Judea under Hellinistic rule, specifically from Antiochus IV of modern-day Syria. He had been held in Rome before coming back to persecute the Jews, leading a Greek people group known as the Seleucids. Under Hellenistic rule, the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem had been desecrated through idol worship. The rest of the book records several attempts to revolt against the weakening Greek powers. Mattathias was the leader of the Jewish revolt. He, like the significant majority of Jews during that time, was outraged by the desecration of the Temple. He led his sons in early victories for the Jewish people before refusing to fight on the Sabbath. Antiochus IV used this opportunity to kill one thousand of the Jews. After this significant loss, the Jewish people agreed to make further exceptions to fight on the Sabbath for independence. The Jews won back Judea in 165 BCE and kept control until 63 BCE. Judas “the Hammer” Maccabee, one of the five sons of Mattathias, instituted Hanukkah as a day of remembrance.

Hanukkah Traditions

Hanukkah is also known as the “Festival of Lights” or the “Festival of Dedication” because it is for the commemoration of the Second Temple in 165 BC under Judah Maccabee. Hanukkah in Hebrew is the word that usually translates to “dedication or consecration,” and in Greek, can translate to “renewal, or restoration.” The festival begins on the 25th day of Jewish month Kislev, usually sometime in November and December. Included in these days, fasting is prohibited. It is also the third anniversary of its destruction by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The most significant historical source for this holiday is found in the book of 1 Maccabees. The festival lasts eight days because there was only enough oil in the lamps in the Temple to burn for one day, and it lasted until the eighth day before they were able to replace the oil, and this event is considered to be a holy, Jewish miracle. There is a heavy emphasis on the spirituality of the holiday and festival to decrease the focus on the military and pagan influences for the origins of Hanukkah in efforts to steer away from pagan focus to spiritual focus as symbol for cleansing the Temple from the pagan desecration of King Antiochus IV. It also may have been influenced by the dedication of Solomon’s Temple which also spanned eight-days.
Eight branched menorahs are used for Hanukkah for nine candles. Candles are inserted from right to left, one each night of the festival, but they are lit from left to right beginning with the newest candle. Candles are usually lit by the men, but can be lit by the women when all the men are absent, and this should be done in a visible place to symbolize “advertising the miracle.” Hanukkah is also the only celebrated Jewish holiday that is not found in the canonical books of the Bible. Menorahs are traditionally placed in individual homes instead of one “holy” menorah in the places of worship. One group, the Shammaites, in later years, lit all of the candles on the first day and then reduced the number each day of the festival, while another people group, the Hillites lit one candle each day.
Based on the Maccabean accounts, the holiday may have been determined to be an analogy of the festival of Sukkot that also lasts eight days (1 Mac. 10). The books of Maccabees all mention the same dates and duration for the festival, and there were also sacrifices that were made on the altars, but there are differences in the different book accounts. 1 Maccabees (4:36-61) describes the dedication of the altar, and 2 Maccabees (1:18; 2:16, 19; 10:3, 5, 7) focus on cleaning of the Temple. 2 Maccabees also links Hanukkah to the Festival of Tabernacles and points out parallels, but it never explicitly mentions that the two festivals are related. 2 Maccabees 1:9 includes that the Jews in Jerusalem strongly encouraged the Jews in Egypt to celebrate the days of tabernacles. 2 Maccabees 1:18 records that the Temple was cleansed and purified through a sacrifice and through fire.

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Menorah

In the context of Hanukkah, the menorah is referred to as the Hanukkiah, which is a branched menorah, traditionally with eight branches, though some Hanukkiahs have places for nine candles.
The menorah can also be called a lampstand as mentioned in canonical Biblical texts. Lampstands existed before Israel’s first Temple, and even the first king, but the tabernacle menorah is mentioned in the canonical Biblical books twenty-six times. Archeologically, menorahs have rarely been found so scholars rely heavily on Biblical accounts for traditional menorah imagery. The Hebrew word for lampstand has many meanings in the priestly texts, but one of the interpreted meanings can be a branched object.
The traditional menorah does embody the biblical symbolism of seven also as a holy number. Some scholars believe that the shape of the lampstand can be used to symbolize a tree, such as the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil or symbolized for fertility. Though we are unsure if the Second Temple contained lampstands, Josephus and the Talmud record graphics of the Second Temple including the lampstand.
We mostly rely on Biblical texts for the location, purpose, and appearance of menorahs. The main function of the menorah was to serve as a light source to the inside of the Temple, and they were included as a part of the rituals for priests to be performed inside of the Temple. The passage of 2 Kings 4:10 mentions a lamp to be put on the table in the Temple. The number of lampstands at the beginning of the post-biblical period may be accurately recorded in Zechariah 4:1-6, 11-14 which is believed to have been written before the restoration of the Temple. It is a vision from the prophet Zechariah that includes seven golden lampstands in the rebuilt Temple. Exodus 25:31-40 and Exodus 37:17-24 are the most significant Biblical passages for the appearance of menorahs. They are described to be made of pure gold and to have seven branches.
The number of branches on the menorah has differed depending on the time period and purpose. During King Solomon’s reign, lampstands were believed to only be a single, solid gold shaft that were kept in the Temple. In contrast to the Hanukkiah, the traditional menorah for the Jewish Temple had seven branches for seven candles. Though we are unsure of what happened to the original menorahs in the First Temple, scholars predict that they may have been taken or destroyed during the Babylonian siege. 1 Maccabees 1:21 and 1 Maccabees 4:49 describe the Babylonians coming into the Temple and taking objects from the Temple which would be recovered and replaced by the Maccabees.

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Allenby’s Victory for Jews

When Jerusalem was taken by the British General Edmund Allenby from Turkish control on December 9th, 1917, this event held historical and religious significance for the Jews because that year, the day they rewon control over their Holy City was on the first day of Hanukkah to celebrate their first and second days of independence. Captain Cyril Falls recognized through an official British report that the day had been coincidentally on the first day of Hanukkah describing that “the flight of the Turks had coincided with the national festival of Hanukkah to commemorate the recapture of the Temple from the heathen Seleucids by Judas Maccabaeus.”
Pictured: General Allenby entering Jerusalem

Significance

The remembrance of Hanukkah was instituted for the rededication and taking back of not just the Temple, but of Judea and Jerusalem. This helped form the basis for modern-day Zionism and for Jewish independence, and it is very important to first understand Hanukkah in order to understand past and present Jewish culture.

Bibliography

Berlin, Adele. The Oxford Dictionary of Jewish Religion. Oxford University Press, 2011.
Cline, Eric H. Jerusalem Besieged: from Ancient Canaan to Modern Israel. University of Michigan Press, 2005.
Freedman, David Noel, et al. The Anchor Bible Dictionary: Volume 1: A - C. Doubleday, 1992.
The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version Containing the Old and New Testaments, with the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical Books. Collins, 1973.

More about Hanukkah:

Modern Customs
What is Hanukkah?
Hanukkah Recipes
Hanukkah in Jerusalem
How Hanukkah Came to America

Created by: Brenna Sterling

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